The Family Medical Leave Act only requires unpaid leave. However, the law permits an employee to elect or the employer to require the employee to use accrued paid vacation leave, paid sick, or family leave for some or all of the FMLA leave period. An employee must follow the employer’s normal leave rules in order to substitute paid leave. When paid leave is used for an FMLA-covered reason, the leave is FMLA-protected.
UAB requires that an employee on a leave of absence use their accrued benefit time before entering into an unpaid status.