Goofy Little FMLA Question

jnealet

I've always wondered this but have never had to figure out the answer and hopefully never will...

I know FLMA is 12 weeks/year but does that year start the day you start FMLA or the day you finish?  So if you took 12 weeks after having a baby on Nov 1 and returned to work Feb 1, would you be eligible the following Nov or Feb 1?

And I know my math is off, just pretend all months are 28 weeks. 

MKDee

My understanding is that your employer can decide that. I worked at one company that did it by leave year for several years, then changed to do it by calendar year during benefits enrollment.

aeh72

I think it might depend on your company's interpretation of the regulations. My current company calculates it based on the calendar year (so you can in essence take 12 weeks in July and get another 12 weeks the following January (assuming you've worked 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months), but my prior company did it on a rolling year (i.e, if go out November 1, you get the full 12 weeks back November 1 the following year). Hope that makes sense.

July18Bride

It can be based on the calendar year, rolling year moving forward, rolling year moving backwad- any of these three. Your company should have this in their FMLA policy which way they calculate.

cecilyandgautam

If you're allotted 12 weeks per year, then it would be Nov, not Feb. That's assuming you otherwise meet the qualifications. 

allysonllambert

Hi! It depends on if your employer requires you to take FMLA leave concurrently with any accrued leave you already have.

FMLA is job protected leave. So, it can run as unpaid "protection" after you have exhausted Personal/Medical/Comp time, but you are NOT protected if it does not run concurrently.

If you take leave in November, but you are not required to run FMLA and accrued leave concurretnly then you could start in in Feb. (unpaid, Im assuming). Or you could run it in November when you are taking paid leave and have the protection, but not the extra unpaid weeks.

Make sense?