The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) offers important protections to employees when they must attend to their own or a qualified family member's serious health condition. Schwan's Shared Services, LLC has partnered with Standard Insurance Company (The Standard) to administer non-work related Short Term Disability (STD) benefits, Long Term Disability (LTD) benefits and leaves under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Employees may call The Standard to report absences due to a personal non-work related injury or illness. In addition, employees may also contact The Standard to report absences due to bonding with a newborn, placement of an adopted or foster child, providing care for a qualified family member or for a qualifying exigency related to military activities under FMLA.
Submitting a Leave
If you would like to request a leave, please contact The Standard at 866.829.8860 or you may go to http://www3.standard.com/net/public/Individuals and choose "Report an Absence" from the bottom right area of the home page. You will be asked to provide the following information in addition to other questions about your request for leave:
Employer: Schwan's
Group Policy number: 644030
Your Name and Employee ID number
Last day at work
Nature of claim - leave reason
Physician information (including name, address, phone number and fax number) - if applicable
When submitting your application online you will need to log on with your company Employee ID number, the company name Schwans and the word password as your initial password. You will then be prompted to choose a personal password so you can initiate the FMLA and/or STD claims process through The Standard.
Initiating the Leave Process
After initiating an FMLA and/or STD claim, The Standard will send you a letter confirming receipt of your claim. In addition, if you are filing for an STD claim for your own injury or illness, The Standard will fax an Attending Physician’s Statement to your physician to complete. An Authorization to Obtain Information form for you to sign and return will be mailed to you. If your leave is for your FMLA only, you will receive a Certification of Health Care Provider form in the mail. (Family member's FMLA, will receive a specific Certification of Health Care Provider form for family members). These forms should be returned to The Standard by the due date provided in your letter.
Family Medical Leave forms for Military Families
Complete these forms to request a leave when you or a family member is called to active duty or to request leave to care for an injured servicemember.
Certification form for Qualifying Exigency for Military Family Leave.1
Certification form for Serious Injury or Illness of Covered Servicemember.2
1 Qualifying exigency leave is a leave for helping families deal with managing their affairs when a servicemember is called to active duty. This leave type only applies to servicemembers in the Reserves, National Guard and retired members of the Regular Armed Forces or Reserve. A member of the Regular Armed Forces is not eligible to take this type of leave.
Under the Department of Labor Regulations, there are 8 reasons that have been identified as "qualifying exigencies" which include:
- Short notice deployment
- Military events and related activities
- Childcare and school activities
- Financial and legal arrangements
- Counseling
- Rest and recuperation
- Post-deployment activities
- Additional activities as agreed upon by the employer and employee
2 Injured Servicemember leave is a leave that can be approved for up to a 26 week period that allows a family member of a covered servicemember to take leave in order to care for a current member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves or a member of the Armed Forces, the National Guard or Reserves who has had a serious injury incurred in the line of duty on active duty.
Returning to Work
When you are ready to return to work, be sure to ask your health care provider to complete a Return to Work Authorization form.