§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]