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Federal

Authors: Sofija Anderson, Michelle R. Barrett, Jane Ann Himsel, Diane L. Kimberlin, Alexis C. Knapp, Casey Kurtz, Deborah D. Cannavino; Lisa Lichterman Leach, Sarah E. Moss, Judith A. Paulson, Mark T. Phillis, Barbara Rittinger Rigo, Terri M. Solomon and Susan A. P. Woodhouse, Littler Mendelson, PC

Summary

  • The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) became effective in 1993. The statute's stated purpose is to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by taking reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons, and to promote equal employment opportunity for men and women. See The Family and Medical Leave Act.
  • The FMLA requires covered employers to provide 12 workweeks of leave during an applicable leave year to an eligible employee for the following reasons: the employee's inability to work due to a serious health condition; to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition; the birth, adoption or foster care of the employee's child; and to address a military exigency arising from a family member's military duty or call to military duty. See Qualifying Reasons for Leave; Designating, Calculating and Tracking Leave Requests.
  • The FMLA requires covered employers to provide 26 workweeks of leave during an applicable leave year for an eligible employee to care for a military servicemember with a serious injury or illness. See Qualifying Reasons for Leave; Designating, Calculating and Tracking Leave Requests.
  • The FMLA and its regulations use many terms of art that are defined by the Department of Labor, including serious health condition, qualifying exigency, health care provider and key employee, among others. See FMLA Definitions, Generally.
  • FMLA leave may be taken in a single block of consecutive days or on an intermittent or reduced-schedule basis. See Administering and Processing Intermittent and Reduced Schedule Leave Requests.
  • Employers covered by the FMLA include private employers with more than 50 employees, public agencies, public school boards, and public and private elementary and secondary schools. A covered employer's managers also may be considered employers under the Act. See FMLA Employer Coverage.
  • There are specific rules for how employees are to be counted for purposes of determining whether a private employer meets the 50-employee threshold. See FMLA Employer Coverage.
  • There are unique rules under the FMLA for elementary and secondary schools, which affect the use of certain types of FMLA leave and employees' entitlement to be restored to an equivalent position at the end of leave. See FMLA Employer Coverage.
  • An employer may be covered by the FMLA as a result of a relationship it has with another employer (or former employer). These situations include joint employer, integrated employer and successor employer relationships. See FMLA Employer Coverage.
  • The FMLA imposes various notice obligations on employees, including the requirement that they provide their employer with enough information for the employer to determine that their absence may be for an FMLA-qualifying reason. Employees also have an obligation to cooperate with their employer when the employer makes reasonable inquiries aimed at determining whether or not the FMLA applies. See Receiving and Reviewing Employee Requests for FMLA Leave.
  • Employees' notice obligations vary depending on the FMLA-qualifying reason for the leave and whether or not the need for leave is foreseeable or unforeseeable. If an employee's request for leave is late, the employer may be able to delay or deny the leave. See Receiving and Reviewing Employee Requests for FMLA Leave.
  • An employer can impose other notice obligations on its employees, including requiring them to follow the employer's normal procedures for requesting leave and to update the employer when the employee's leave needs change. Employee notice requirements may not be more rigorous than those imposed by the FMLA, and many such notice requirements must be excused if there are extenuating circumstances. See Receiving and Reviewing Employee Requests for FMLA Leave.
  • The FMLA includes a three-prong test for determining whether an employee is eligible for leave. The three prongs involve how long the employee has been employed by the employer, how many hours the employee has worked during the 12 months preceding the requested leave, and how many employees are employed at the relevant worksite. See Determining Employee Eligibility for FMLA Leave.
  • When calculating an employee's length of service for purposes of determining FMLA eligibility, there are specific rules for what time may and may not be counted. See Determining Employee Eligibility for FMLA Leave.
  • When calculating an employee's amount of recent service for purposes of determining FMLA eligibility, the only hours counted are those that are considered compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and there are special rules relating to exempt employees and employees returning from uniformed service. See Determining Employee Eligibility for FMLA Leave.

State Requirements

The following states have additional requirements for this topic under applicable state law.