Human Resources

Human Resources Staff

Allen Bowen
Human Resources Director & Title IX Coordinator
abowen@gcbe.org
706-629-7366

Angel Dawson
Employee Benefits Supervisor & Workers' Comp
adawson@gcbe.org
706-879-5026

Tammi Werner
Human Resources Specialist
twerner@gcbe.org
706-629-7366 ext. 8102

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA)

FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees.

Eligibility Requirements

Employees are eligible if they have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, have 1,250 hours of service in the previous 12 months, and if at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.

Employee Responsibilities

Employees must provide 30 days advance notice of the need to take FMLA leave when the need is foreseeable.  When 30 days notice is not possible, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable and generally must comply with an employer's normal call-in procedures.

FMLA Process

Step 1: Employer, school, or department designee, will provide to the employee, upon notice, the following:

Step 2: Employer, school, or department designee, will provide the appropriate federal form, as listed below, to the employee. Employee should have the appropriate form completed by their physician and returned to their Supervisor/ Designee.

Step 3: Employer will provide the employee a designation notice once appropriate documentation has been received in order for a determination to be made:

 WH-382 Designation Notice

Step 4: Return to Work (WH380E leave). The employee must provide the employer/designee a release to return to work. 

Note: All leave should be entered in the leave/PLU system in weekly increments.

Intermittent or Reduced Leave

An employee may take leave on an intermittent or reduced leave schedule where it is medically necessary due to a serious health condition of a covered family member, the employee, or the serious injury or illness of a covered service member, or when necessary because of a qualifying exigency. The Board of Education will require a certification, to document the medical necessity of such intermittent leave or schedule leave.

Benefits and Return to Work

Employees will be eligible to maintain health care benefits provided by the school district while on FMLA leave. The board of education will pay the employer’s portion, if any, of such benefits up to twenty-four. After this time, the employee will be responsible for their employee portion of their benefits and the employer portion of the benefits.   The employee will pay the same portion, if any, of such benefits as the employee paid before beginning the leave.

With the exception of paid vacation, personal, medical or sick leave required to be substituted for unpaid leave, the employee’s absence during leave will not alter benefits which the employee accrued before taking leave. Any accrued benefits will not be lost during the leave.

Upon return from leave, the employee is entitled to be reinstated to a position equivalent to the one the employee held when he/she left on FMLA, with equivalent pay, benefits and other terms or conditions of employment. Upon, proper notice, however, the board of education may deny reinstatement under this policy to anyone whose salary is in the highest ten percent of the employees employed by the school district if such denial is necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to the District’s operation, as determined by the Board of Education.

District Contacts regarding FMLA

Mr. Allen Bowen, Director of Human Resources
abowen@gcbe.org
706-629-7366 or Ext. 8117

Ms. Angel Dawson, Benefits Supervisor
adawson@gcbe.org
706-879-5026

Frequently Asked Questions