Sec.31-51qq-24. Are there any limitations on an employer’s obligation to reinstate an employee?

(a) An employee has no greater right to reinstatement or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been continuously employed during the FMLA leave period. An employer shall be able to show that an employee would not otherwise have been employed at the time reinstatement is requested in order to deny restoration to employment. For example:

(1) If an employee is laid off during the course of taking FMLA leave and employment is terminated, the employer’s responsibility to continue FMLA leave and restore the employee ceases at the time the employee is laid off, provided the employer has no continuing obligations under a collective bargaining agreement or otherwise. An employer would have the burden of proving that an employee would have been laid off during the FMLA leave period and, therefore, would not be entitled to restoration.

(2) If a shift has been eliminated, or overtime has been decreased, an employee would not be entitled to return to work that shift or the original overtime hours upon restoration. However, if a position on, for example, a night shift has been filled by another employee, the employee is entitled to return to the same shift on which employed before taking FMLA leave.

(b) If an employee was hired for a specific term or only to perform work on a discrete project, the employer has no obligation to restore the employee if the employment term or project is over and the employer would not otherwise have continued to employ the employee. On the other hand, if an employee was hired to perform work on a contract, and after that contract period the contract was awarded to another contractor, the successor contractor may be required to restore the employee if it is a successor employer.

(c) An employer may delay restoration to an employee who fails to provide a fitness-for-duty certificate to return to work under the conditions described in section 31-51qq-35 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.

(d) If the employee has been on a workers’ compensation absence during which FMLA leave has been taken concurrently, and after the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement in a twelve (12)-month period is exhausted, the employee is unable to return to work, the employee no longer has the protections of FMLA and must look to workers’ compensation statutes, ADA and FEPA for any relief or protections.

(Adopted effective March 9, 1999; Amended August 3, 2022)