How Am I Charged for My 12 Workweeks of FMLA Leave?

You get 12 workweeks of FMLA leave. But as you may know, 12 workweeks of time off leaves plenty of room for interpretation as to exactly how much time you get off. This is especially true when you have already taken some time off in the year.

The general rule is that you are charged leave for your actual usage, according to the Department of Labor. So if you take leave for one full workweek, you will be charged one workweek.

On the other hand, if you take intermittent leave or only need two days off in the week, you should only be charged for that proportion of that workweek for which you take time off. For example, if you only take one day off in a five-day workweek, you should be charged one-fifth of a workweek only.

What Happens During a Non-Workweek?

Many employers shut their doors for a certain period of time. Schools may close for the summer and factories may furlough during the winter. In these cases, an employee taking FMLA leave should not be charged with any time off that they take during such a week.

Do I Get My Time Back for Holidays?

Whether a holiday is charged as FMLA leave depends upon whether you take the full holiday week off. For example, suppose that you get Monday off for a holiday. If you planned to take the entire week off anyway, the entire week (including the holiday) will be charged as one full workweek for determining FMLA leave.

But if you only planned to take Monday and Tuesday off, only Tuesday will count against your FMLA leave entitlement in our hypothetical scenario. So you would have only used a portion of the workweek as FMLA leave.

What If I Don’t Work a Normal Schedule?

Many workers don’t work a standard 9-to-5 workday. In these cases, where a worker’s schedule changes from week to week, the employer can use a weekly average to calculate the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement. The average will be taken over the 12 months prior to the beginning of the requested leave.

So if a worker averages work for four days a week and 32 hours in that week, that may be used as one workweek for FMLA purposes.

Related Resources:

• Browse Philadelphia Employment Lawyers (FindLaw)
• FMLA Leave Law: In-Depth (FindLaw)
• 4 Important Benefits of Taking FMLA Leave (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law News)
• An Overview of Your FMLA Rights (FindLaw’s Philadelphia Employment Law News)