Understanding Fmla: In-Law Coverage And Your Rights

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. Eligible employees can take FMLA leave to care for their spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. However, in-laws are not included in the list of immediate family members covered by FMLA. Therefore, FMLA leave cannot be used to care for a parent-in-law with a serious health condition.

FMLA eligibility requirements

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federally mandated program that entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. Here are the eligibility requirements for FMLA:

Who is eligible for FMLA?

To be eligible for FMLA, an employee must meet the following criteria:

• Work for a covered employer.
• Have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months.
• Work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
• Have worked for the employer for at least 12 months. This period of employment is not required to be consecutive, and only employment within the past seven years is considered.

Who is a covered employer?

The FMLA applies to:

• All public agencies, including local, state, and federal employers, as well as local education agencies (schools).
• Private sector employers with 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including joint employers and successors of covered employers.

Eligible employees can take FMLA leave for the following reasons:

• The birth of a child and to bond with the newborn within the first year.
• The placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and to bond with the child within the first year.
• To care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
• To take medical leave due to the employee's own serious health condition.
• Qualifying exigencies arising from a spouse, son, daughter, or parent's covered active duty military service.
• To care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness (military caregiver leave). For this specific reason, eligible employees are entitled to up to 26 weeks of leave during a single 12-month period.

FMLA leave entitlements

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. Employees are also entitled to return to their same or an equivalent job at the end of their FMLA leave. During the leave, group health benefits must be maintained as if the employee had continued to work.

FMLA applies to:

• Public agencies, including local, state, and federal employers, and local education agencies (schools).
• Private sector employers with 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year.

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must:

• Work for a covered employer.
• Have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months (special rules apply to airline flight crew members).
• Work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
• Have worked for the employer for 12 months (this can be non-consecutive).

FMLA leave can be taken for the following reasons:

• The birth of a child and to care for the newborn within one year of birth.
• The placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and to care for the child within one year of placement.
• To care for the employee's spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition (but not a parent-in-law).
• A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to work.
• Qualifying exigencies arising from the employee's spouse, child, or parent being on covered active duty in the National Guard, Reserves, or Regular Armed Forces.

Additionally, eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if they are the service member's spouse, child, parent, or next of kin.

FMLA leave for military families

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees.

To be eligible for FMLA, an employee must:

• Work for a qualified employer with more than 50 employees within a 75-mile radius
• Have worked 1250 hours in a year
• Be a spouse, child, parent, or "next of kin" of a covered service member

Military family leave provisions afford FMLA protections specific to the needs of military families. These include:

• Qualifying exigency leave – leave for certain reasons related to a family member’s foreign deployment, such as making childcare arrangements, attending certain military ceremonies and briefings, or making financial or legal arrangements to address a military member’s absence.
• Military caregiver leave – leave when a family member is a current service member or recent veteran with a serious injury or illness. Eligible employees may take up to 26 weeks of FMLA leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness.

FMLA leave for chronic conditions

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. It also seeks to accommodate the legitimate interests of employers and promote equal employment opportunities for men and women.

FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees.

Eligible employees are those who work for covered employers under the FMLA and:

• Have worked for their employer for at least 12 months
• Have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the 12 months before their FMLA leave starts
• Work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles

Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period for their own serious health condition or to care for a family member with a serious health condition.

A serious health condition is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a healthcare provider. Both physical and mental health conditions qualify for FMLA leave.

Chronic conditions are defined as those that require periodic visits to a healthcare provider or a nurse supervised by the provider, at least twice a year, and which include periods of incapacity that recur over an extended period. A chronic condition may cause short periods of incapacity. An employee can be incapacitated due to a chronic condition even if they do not receive treatment from a healthcare provider during the absence, and even if the absence does not last for more than three consecutive calendar days.

Employees using FMLA leave for their own or a family member's serious health condition may do so all at once or in short blocks of time. Employees must be restored to the same or a virtually identical position at the end of each leave period.

FMLA leave for pregnancy

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave. FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons.

FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. These employers must provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:

• The birth and care of the newborn child of an employee.
• Placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care.
• To care for an immediate family member (i.e., spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition.
• To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Pregnancy and parental leave are covered under FMLA. Both parents are entitled to FMLA leave for the birth of their child and to be with the healthy newborn child during the 12-month period beginning on the date of birth. An employee's entitlement to FMLA leave for a birth expires at the end of the 12-month period beginning on the date of the birth.

The expectant mother is entitled to FMLA leave for incapacity due to pregnancy, for prenatal care, or for her own serious health condition following the birth of the child. Circumstances may require that FMLA leave begin before the actual date of birth. An expectant mother may take FMLA leave before the birth of the child for prenatal care or if her condition makes her unable to work.

A spouse is entitled to FMLA leave if needed to care for a pregnant spouse who is incapacitated, for prenatal care, or if needed to care for her following the birth of a child if she has a serious health condition.

Additionally, time taken off work due to pregnancy complications can be counted against the 12 weeks of family and medical leave.

Frequently asked questions