§398-4 Unpaid leave permitted; relationship to paid leave; sick leave. (a) Pursuant to section 398-3, an employee shall be entitled to four weeks of family leave. The family leave shall consist of unpaid leave, paid leave, or a combination of paid and unpaid leave. If an employer provides paid family leave for fewer than four weeks, the additional period of leave added to attain the four-week total may be unpaid.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), an employee may elect to substitute any of the employee's accrued paid leaves, including but not limited to vacation, personal, or family leave for any part of the four-week period in subsection (a).

(c) An employer who provides sick leave for employees shall permit an employee to use the employee's accrued and available sick leave for purposes of this chapter; provided that an employee shall not use more than ten days per year for this purpose, unless an express provision of a valid collective bargaining agreement authorizes the use of more than ten days of sick leave for family leave purposes. Nothing in this section shall require an employer to diminish an employee's accrued and available sick leave below the amount required pursuant to section 392-41; provided that any sick leave in excess of the minimum statutory equivalent for temporary disability benefits as determined by the department may be used for purposes of this chapter. [L 1991, c 328, pt of §1; am L 1995, c 154, §5; am L 2003, c 44, §3; am L 2005, c 243, §3; am L 2007, c 265, §2]