The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that lets covered employees take extended time away from work, to handle certain family or medical needs.  Many states have similar laws that may provide additional coverage above and beyond that outlined in the FMLA. Following is a brief discussion of employees' rights under the FMLA.

Covered Employers 

Not every employer is required to provide its employees with family or medical leave. Federal law states that an employer is required to provide eligible employees with leave if the employer is either:

• A state, local, or federal governmental agency; or
• A private business engaged in, or affecting, interstate commerce, that employed fifty or more employees in twenty or more weeks in the current or prior calendar year.

This criteria may sound complicated, but in reality virtually every business in the U.S. engages in, or affects, interstate commerce.  The "fifty or more employees" standard includes everyone on the employer's payroll, including part-time employees, employees on approved leave, and leased or temporary employees.

Covered Employees

An employee who works for a covered employer is eligible for leave if he or she worked for the employer for at least twelve months, and for at least 1,250 hours over the twelve months immediately preceding the need for leave.  The employee must also work at a worksite in the United States, or a U.S. territory, at which the employer has at least fifty employees within seventy-five miles.

The requirements set out here are those under the federal FMLA.  Laws in your state may have other requirements that provide leave to more (or different) employees.

What Leave is Provided?

A covered employer must provide eligible employees with a maximum of twelve weeks of leave.  The leave may be unpaid, but it may be combined with accrued paid leave (such as vacation or sick leave). 

An eligible employee may take leave:

• For the birth, adoption, or placement of a child;
• To care for a spouse, minor, or incompetent child, or parent who has a "serious health condition" (more on this below); or
• To handle the employee's own serious health condition that makes him or her unable to work.

A "serious health condition" is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or condition that involves:

• Hospital care;
• Absence from work, plus continuing treatment;
• Pregnancy;
• Treatment for a chronic condition;
• Permanent long-term supervision; or
• Multiple treatments.

Employees may be required to provide advance notice, if possible, and medical certification of the need for leave.  An employer who provides health insurance is required to maintain coverage for an employee on leave on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work.