U.S. - LEAVE of Absencefamily and Medical Leave of Absence Process

Updated 12/21/10

U.S. - LEAVE OF ABSENCEFamily and Medical Leave of Absence Process

Contents

·  Introduction

·  Eligibility

·  Duration

·  Approval

·  Process

·  Return to Work from FMLA Leave

·  Compensation and Benefits

·  Substitution of Paid Leave

·  Short Term Disability and Workers Compensation

·  Need for Leave Beyond the FMLA

·  Domestic Partners

·  Applicable Law

·  Prohibited Actions

·  Amendment or Termination of this Document or Process

·  Definitions

Effective January 1, 2011, Nortel HR Shared Services is the first point of contact for employees to initiate a request for a leave that is covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). Nortel HR Shared Services can be contacted at 919-905-9351, ESN 355-9351 or 1-800-676-4636.

Terms in this process document, which are not defined where they initially appear, are defined in the Definitions section at the end of the document.

Introduction

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is the federal law under which certain types of leaves of absence, which Nortel refers to as FMLA Leaves, are provided to eligible employees who request them for up to a total of 12 weeks in a calendar year or, in the case of a Military Caregiver Leave, as described below, up to a total of 26 weeks in a single 12 month period. This document provides guidelines and process information to employees regarding FMLA Leaves for which they may be eligible.

FMLA Leaves may be taken by eligible employees for the following reasons:

·  due to the employee's own Serious Health Condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the employee's job (Employee Serious Health Condition Leave);

·  to care for the employee's child during the 12 month period after birth or placement for adoption or foster care (Newborn/Placement Leave);

·  to care for the employee's Spouse, Son or Daughter, or Parent who has a Serious Health Condition (Family Serious Health Condition Leave);

·  Military Exigency Leave;

·  Military Caregiver Leave.

Nortel does not provide paid FMLA Leave. However, employees may be eligible to receive pay while on an FMLA Leave under the Nortel Short-Term Disability Plan, Nortel's Paid-Time Off Programs (i.e., vacation) or Workers Compensation. See sections below on Substitution of Paid Leave and Short Term Disability and Workers Compensation for further details. Also, see the section regarding Applicable Law for details on state or local laws that may be more generous.

Eligibility

An employee who meets the following requirements is eligible for an FMLA Leave:

·  The employee has at least 12 months of employment with Nortel. Although months of employment are not required to be consecutive, periods of employment prior to a break in employment of 7 or more years will not be counted except as required under the FMLA. In determining when 12 months of employment has occurred for purposes of this requirement, Nortel will consider any part of a week during which an employee is on the payroll as a week worked by the employee and 52 weeks worked as equal to 12 months of Nortel employment.

·  The employee must have worked at least 1250 hours during the 12 month period immediately before the leave begins.

·  Nortel must employ at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee's work location. For these purposes, home-based employees are considered to be employed from the site (i) of their assigned home base, (ii) from which their work is assigned or (iii) to which they report.

Duration

FMLA Leaves Other than Military Caregiver Leave: An eligible employee may take up to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA Leaves (other than Military Caregiver Leave) in a calendar year.

Military Caregiver Leave: An eligible employee may take up to 26 weeks of Military Caregiver Leave in a single 12 month period, which commences the first day the leave begins and ends 12 months after that date. If any Military Caregiver Leave 26 week leave entitlement remains at the end of the 12 month period, it is forfeited. Additionally, the 26 weeks of available Military Caregiver Leave is reduced by any other FMLA Leave that is taken by the employee during that 12 month period. Military Caregiver Leaves are on a "per injury" and "per Covered Service Member" basis, which means that only one such leave is available for the care of a particular injury of a particular Covered Service Member but additional leaves are available if the Covered Service Member suffers a subsequent serious injury or illness or to care for a different Covered Service Member.

Exception to the duration of FMLA Leaves: If a husband and wife, who are both employed by Nortel, each request a Newborn/Placement Leave, Family Serious Health Condition Leave to care for a Parent or a Military Caregiver Leave, the amount of those Family Leaves available to each employee will be limited by the amount of those Family Leaves taken by the other employee. For example, if during a calendar year a wife takes 8 weeks of Newborn/Placement Leave, her husband will only be eligible for 4 weeks of Newborn/Placement Leave during that calendar year. However, during that calendar year the wife will be eligible for an additional 4 weeks of Family Leave (excluding Military Caregiver Leave) for other qualifying reasons and the husband will be eligible for an additional eight weeks of Family Leave for other qualifying reasons.

FMLA Leaves on a Reduced Schedule Basis or Intermittent Basis: Although FMLA Leaves are generally taken for full consecutive work days, employees may be eligible to take Employee Serious Health Condition Leaves, Family Serious Health Condition Leaves, and Military Caregiver Leaves on a Reduced Schedule Basis or Intermittent Basis subject to certain conditions provided that, if medical treatment is involved and planned, the employee makes reasonable efforts to schedule that medical treatment so that it is not unduly disruptive to Nortel's operations. Employees may also take Military Exigency Leaves on an Intermittent Basis or Reduced Schedule Basis. Nortel will determine in its sole discretion whether to permit employees to take Newborn/Placement leaves on an Intermittent Basis or Reduced Schedule Basis.

Employees who take FMLA Leave on a Reduced Schedule Basis or on an Intermittent Basis will be paid for time worked (in arrears). They must report the hours worked and FMLA Leave hours used to the Leave Administrator and submit completed Time/Premium Pay Sheets to Payroll in order to receive pay for time worked.

Approval

The Nortel Leave Administrator is responsible for approving and monitoring all employee requests for FMLA Leaves.

Process

An FMLA leave cannot be initiated through the Employee Self-Service (ESS) tool. You should contact your Manager or the Nortel HR Shared Services for assistance in processing this type of absence. See below.

The following is the process for requesting an FMLA Leave:

1. Employees must provide 30 calendar days advance notice of the need for an FMLA Leave by advising their manager and contacting Nortel HR Shared Services when the need for the leave is foreseeable. Examples of foreseeable FMLA Leaves are those based on the birth or placement of a child or the employee's planned medical treatment.

When a leave is unforeseeable or a foreseeable leave is needed earlier than expected (e.g., the employee's unanticipated illness or injury, occurrence of a Military Exigency, premature birth), employees must give as much notice of their need for the leave to their manager and Nortel HR Shared Services as practicable.

Employees are also expected to report their absence through the Employee Self-Service Tool (Absence and Attendance), if the nature of the absence is reportable in that tool, and to follow any other practice for reporting an absence within their organization, such as contacting their manager.

When notifying Nortel HR Shared Services of a request for FMLA Leave, the employee must provide enough information to determine preliminarily if the leave may qualify for FMLA protection (e.g., the employee informs Nortel HR Shared Services of the employee's hospitalization or a Military Exigency that has occurred) and the timing and expected duration of the leave. The employee must also indicate if the requested leave is for a reason for which an FMLA Leave was previously taken.

1. Within 5 Business Days following an employee's notice to Nortel HR Shared Services of a request for an FMLA Leave, the Nortel Leave Administrator will provide the employee with the following documents:

o  The Employer Notice of Eligibility for Leave-This document tells employees if they meet the basic FMLA requirements (12 months of employment in total and 1250 hours of work in the preceding 12 month period).

o  Employer Notice to Employee of Rights and Responsibilities-This document provides information related to the request for an FMLA Leave, including certain information included in this process document. Employees will be notified through this notice if Nortel considers them to be Key Employees.

o  Certification document-The employee will be provided with a Certification document, which is appropriate for the type of FMLA Leave requested, for completion.

1. Within 15 calendar days of receipt of the Certification document referenced above from the Nortel Leave Administrator, the employee must return the completed Certification document to the Nortel Leave Administrator.
2. Within five Business Days of receipt of the completed Certification document from the employee, the Nortel Leave Administrator will notify the employee in writing whether the leave will be designated and counted as FMLA Leave and provide certain other information provided in this process document and under the FMLA regulations.
3. If the Nortel Leave Administrator determines that the Certification document submitted by an employee is incomplete, i.e., one or more of the spaces for information has not been completed, or insufficient, i.e., the information provided is vague, ambiguous or unresponsive, the Nortel Leave Administrator will provide the employee with written notice of information required to make the Certification document complete and sufficient and the employee will have 7 calendar days to supply the required information. If an employee fails to provide the required information on a resubmitted Certification document for an Employee Serious Health Condition Leave, a Family Serious Health Condition Leave or a Military Caregiver Leave, the Nortel Leave Administrator may contact the Health Care Provider who completed the Certification document to clarify or authenticate the medical certification. If the employee fails to provide the above required information or fails to grant any permission required for the Nortel Leave Administrator to talk to the Health Care Provider for purposes of clarification or authentication of the Certification document, the FMLA Leave may be denied. If the employee never submits the required Certification document, the leave is not an FMLA Leave. Additionally, if the Nortel Leave Administrator doubts the validity of a medical Certification document for an Employee Serious Health Condition Leave or Family Serious Health Condition Leave, the employee may be required to obtain a second medical opinion at Nortel's expense and, if there is conflict in the first and second medical opinions, even a third medical opinion at Nortel's expense. If the employee is ultimately determined to not be entitled to the FMLA Leave, the leave is not an FMLA Leave.
4. The Nortel Leave Administrator may send the employee additional Certification documents for completion during an FMLA Leave. When that occurs, the employee must return the completed Certification document to the Nortel Leave Administrator within 15 calendar days of its receipt and issues with any subsequent Certification will be addressed as described in #5 above.}
5. Employees who fail to return to work at the end of their FMLA Leave will be considered to have voluntarily terminated their employment effective the first working day following the expiration of their FMLA Leave unless they have applied for and been approved for a personal leave under the circumstances described below in the section entitled Need for Leave Beyond the FMLA.

Return to Work from FMLA Leave

·  Employees returning from an FMLA Leave must contact the Nortel HR Shared Services to report the first day returned to work so that the FMLA Leave is properly closed.

·  If an employee who takes an Employee Serious Health Condition Leave applies and is approved for Short Term Disability benefits during that leave, that employee will be required to provide a certification from their Health Care Provider stating that they are able to return to work as provided under the Medical Leave of Absence Process, which applies to employees applying for and receiving Short Term Disability benefits. Employees who request an Employee Serious Health Condition Leave are not required to apply for Short Term Disability benefits.

·  Employees on FMLA Leave must contact their manager 5 Business Days before the earlier to occur of (i) their desired return to work date and (ii) the return to work date indicated on the Certification document provided to the Nortel Leave Administrator. This notice provides the employee's manager time to make any necessary plans for the employee's return to work

·  If Nortel has not designated an employee as a Key Employee in the Employer Notice to Employee of Rights and Responsibilities, the employee is generally entitled to be returned to the same position that the employee held when the FMLA Leave began or an Equivalent Position provided that the employee can perform the essential functions of the job. However, an employee on FMLA Leave has no greater right to reinstatement or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been actively employed during the period during which the FMLA Leave occurred. For example, an employee who would have been terminated due to position elimination as a result of a reduction-in-force if the employee had been actively working during the period of the FMLA Leave is not required to be reinstated at the end of the FMLA Leave if the employee's position is not available when the FMLA Leave ends.