§398-4  Unpaid leave permitted; relationshipto paid leave; sick leave.  (a)  Pursuant to section 398-3, an employeeshall be entitled to four weeks of family leave.  The family leave shallconsist of unpaid leave, paid leave, or a combination of paid and unpaidleave.  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 beunpaid.

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

(c)  An employer who provides sick leave foremployees shall permit an employee to use the employee's accrued and availablesick leave for purposes of this chapter; provided that an employee shall notuse more than ten days per year for this purpose, unless an express provisionof a valid collective bargaining agreement authorizes the use of more than tendays of sick leave for family leave purposes.  Nothing in this section shallrequire an employer to diminish an employee's accrued and available sick leavebelow the amount required pursuant to section 392-41; provided that any sickleave in excess of the minimum statutory equivalent for temporary disabilitybenefits as determined by the department may be used for purposes of thischapter. [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]