With the flu season rapidly approaching and H1N1 back in headline news, most of us are taking precautions to safeguard our families and ourselves from contracting this potentially fatal strain of flu virus.

As an HR professional or business owner you must be prepared to comply with FMLA rules, should one of your employees or their family members the contract the virus.

In certain circumstances, workers (or their family members) who contract the H1N1 virus may be eligible for FMLA leave. The degree of illness needs to constitute a serious health condition. According to the FMLA rules, this must involve inpatient care at a medical facility or continual treatment by a health care provider. For example, if your employee visits a healthcare provider and is prescribed medication or is hospitalized, then he/she qualifies for FMLA. This also applies if the employee’s spouse, child or parent visits a healthcare provider and is prescribed medication for the condition or is hospitalized.

The definition of “continual treatment” has a life of its own. Under FMLA, it’s determined by the number of days of incapacity (more than 3 consecutive, full calendar days); number of times treated by a healthcare provider (at least 2 in-person visits within 30 days from day 1 of incapacity, the first being within 7 days from day 1 of incapacity); and must result in continuing treatment, such as prescription medication.

Preventative absences or those cases where the employee or their family member has not sought treatment from a healthcare provider do not qualify for FMLA.

For ease of administration of the FMLA program, GovDocs provides an FMLA package.