HAR §12-27-6. Family leave entitlement and use

(a) Pursuant to chapter 398, HRS, an employee is entitled to a total of four weeks of family leave each calendar year: (1) Upon the birth of a child of the employee or the adoption of a child by the employee; or (2) To care for the employee’s child, spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, or parent with a serious health condition. (b) The use of family leave is limited to a twelve-month period. (c) For purposes of subsection (b), any fixed and consecutive period of twelve months established by 27-8 §12-27-6 the employer, that is consistently and uniformly applied with respect to all eligible employees, shall be recognized. A twelve-month period may include, but not be limited to, a: (1) Calendar year; (2) Fiscal year or similar fixed leave year, such as an employee anniversary date; (3) Period beginning with the first use of family leave for an event, with the next twelve-month period beginning with the first time family leave is used after the completion of the previous twelve-month period; or (4) "Rolling" period measured backward from the date the employee uses family leave. Under this method, each time an employee takes family leave, the remaining leave entitlement shall be any balance of the four weeks which has not been used during the immediately preceding twelve months. (d) Family leave entitlement per calendar year is not cumulative, and any unused amount shall not carry over or accrue to the next calendar year. However, if an employee begins to take family leave in a calendar year which ends before the four-week limitation is met, the employee may take the balance of the four weeks of family leave in the twelve-month period by relying upon part of the next calendar year’s four-week entitlement. (e) An employee’s entitlement to four weeks of family leave upon the birth of a child of the employee expires twelve months after the child’s birth. In cases where the employee is adopting a child and has filed a petition for adoption, the court or authorized agency may place or allow the employee to retain custody of the child and be responsible for care before the actual adoption decree is issued. In these situations, the employee is entitled to family leave upon the placement of the child for adoption. (f) Family leave for a serious health condition applies to an employee who is needed to care for the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or reciprocal 27-9 §12-27-6 beneficiary with a serious health condition, but shall not include the serious health condition of the employee. (g) Use of family leave is limited to four weeks during any twelve-month period for any and all reasons that qualify under the statute. As such, during an established twelve-month period, if an employee uses the four-week maximum of family leave for one or more qualifying reasons, the employee will have exhausted the amount of allowable family leave for that particular twelve-month period. (h) An eligible employee’s right to family leave shall not be limited by the availability of other family members as long as the leave is for a qualifying reason and the employee provides required certification of the reason. The need for family leave may encompass both physical and psychological care or comfort. (i) When the same employer employs both husband and wife, each spouse is entitled to four weeks of family leave. [Eff 2/3/05 ] (Auth: HRS §398-11) (Imp: HRS §§398-1, 398-3)