[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR825.210]

[Page 815-816]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 825_THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993--Table of Contents
 
 Subpart B_What Leave Is an Employee Entitled to Take Under the Family 
                         and Medical Leave Act?
 
Sec. 825.210  How may employees on FMLA leave pay their share of group 
health benefit premiums?

    (a) Group health plan benefits must be maintained on the same basis 
as coverage would have been provided if the employee had been 
continuously employed during the FMLA leave period. Therefore, any share 
of group health plan premiums which had been paid by the employee prior 
to FMLA leave must continue to be paid by the employee during the FMLA 
leave period. If premiums are raised or lowered, the employee would be 
required to pay the new premium rates. Maintenance of health insurance 
policies which are not a part of the employer's group

[[Page 816]]

health plan, as described in Sec. 825.209(a)(1), are the sole 
responsibility of the employee. The employee and the insurer should make 
necessary arrangements for payment of premiums during periods of unpaid 
FMLA leave.
    (b) If the FMLA leave is substituted paid leave, the employee's 
share of premiums must be paid by the method normally used during any 
paid leave, presumably as a payroll deduction.
    (c) If FMLA leave is unpaid, the employer has a number of options 
for obtaining payment from the employee. The employer may require that 
payment be made to the employer or to the insurance carrier, but no 
additional charge may be added to the employee's premium payment for 
administrative expenses. The employer may require employees to pay their 
share of premium payments in any of the following ways:
    (1) Payment would be due at the same time as it would be made if by 
payroll deduction;
    (2) Payment would be due on the same schedule as payments are made 
under COBRA;
    (3) Payment would be prepaid pursuant to a cafeteria plan at the 
employee's option;
    (4) The employer's existing rules for payment by employees on 
``leave without pay'' would be followed, provided that such rules do not 
require prepayment (i.e., prior to the commencement of the leave) of the 
premiums that will become due during a period of unpaid FMLA leave or 
payment of higher premiums than if the employee had continued to work 
instead of taking leave; or,
    (5) Another system voluntarily agreed to between the employer and 
the employee, which may include prepayment of premiums (e.g., through 
increased payroll deductions when the need for the FMLA leave is 
foreseeable).
    (d) The employer must provide the employee with advance written 
notice of the terms and conditions under which these payments must be 
made. (See Sec. 825.301.)
    (e) An employer may not require more of an employee using FMLA leave 
than the employer requires of other employees on ``leave without pay.''
    (f) An employee who is receiving payments as a result of a workers' 
compensation injury must make arrangements with the employer for payment 
of group health plan benefits when simultaneously taking unpaid FMLA 
leave. See paragraph (c) of this section and Sec. 825.207(d)(2).

[60 FR 2237, Jan. 6, 1995; 60 FR 16383, Mar. 30, 1995]