Page 31 - Drive Thru Handbook 9-17
P. 31

Compensation and Benefits During Leave

               Family/medical leave is unpaid.  However, for the first twelve (12) weeks of an approved
               family/medical leave (or 26 weeks in the case of Service member Family Leave), you
               will be permitted to continue participating in any health and welfare benefit plans in
               which you are enrolled before the first day of leave at the level and under the conditions
               of coverage as if you had continued to be actively employed for the duration of such
               leave.  The Company will continue  to make  the  same premium contribution for  your
               health insurance as if you had continued working.  The continued participation in health
               benefits begins on the date your leave first begins.

               You must pay your portion of the premium by the first of each month.  Your health care
               coverage  will cease if your premium payment is more than  30  days late.  If your
               payment is more than 30 days late, we will send you a letter to this effect.  If we do not
               receive your co-payment within 15 days of the letter, your coverage may cease.

               Your use of family/medical leave will not result in the loss of any employment benefit
               that you earned before using family/medical leave.

               Reinstatement

               Under most circumstances, upon return from family/medical leave, you will be reinstated
               to your original job or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay,  benefits, and  other
               employment terms and conditions.  However,  you have no greater rights to
               reinstatement than if you had been continuously employed rather than on leave.  For
               example, if you would have been laid off had you not gone on leave, or if your job is
               eliminated during leave and no equivalent or comparable job is available, you will not be
               entitled to reinstatement.

               Reinstatement after  family/medical leave  may be denied to certain “key” highly
               compensated employees under certain conditions.  Employees requesting
               reinstatement who were among the highest paid  ten percent of salaried Company
               employees within 75 miles of the worksite at which they worked at the time of the leave
               request may not be reinstated to their former or equivalent position following leave if
               restoration of employment will cause substantial  and grievous economic injury to the
               Company.  This fact-specific determination will be made by the Company on a case-by-
               case basis.   The Company will notify you, in writing, that you qualify as  a “key”
               employee (as defined by FMLA) and that you may be denied reinstatement either when
               you give notice of the need  for FMLA leave or when FMLA leave commences,
               whichever is earlier, and of the employee’s rights in such instances.

               Returning from Leave

               If you take leave because of your own serious health condition, (except if you are taking
               intermittent leave) you are required to  provide  medical certification that you are  fit to


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