Does FMLA Reload Each Year?

Length of Time

Each 12-month period that an employee works, her employer gives her 12 workweeks of leave to care for a qualifying family member, such as a critically ill family member or new baby. This is increased to 26 workweeks of leave if the family member is a service member with a serious injury or illness under the military caregiver leave clause. You qualify for FMLA if you have worked for a company for 12 months and have offered 1,250 hours of work.

Three of the four ways employers can calculate FMLA calendar years are fairly straightforward. Some will use the actual calendar, allowing the 12 weeks to restart every Jan. 1. This could entitle some employees to 24 weeks in a row if the first 12 weeks end on Dec. 31 and they immediately take the 12 weeks for the next year . Employers can also base it on the calendar using their own start date, such as the employee's start date or the fiscal year for the company. Some choose to start counting the 12-month period the day the employee first uses FMLA.

The act gives employers a more complicated rolling method. Under this method, time is counted backwards from when the employee first requests leave. This requires the employer to re-calculate the leave every time the employee requests it. For example, if the employee requests leave on Feb. 1, the company looks back all the way to Feb. 1 of the year before. Whatever balance of the 12 weeks remains, the employee can then take. If the employee requests more leave on April 1, the employer then looks back to the previous April 1 and gives the employee any remaining balance of leave.

Your employer should state in your handbook or benefits package what type of calendar is used to determine FMLA. If you are not given this information, the law requires the employer to offer the calendar method that is most beneficial to you at the time you request leave. If you are unsure what calendar method is being used in your company, contact the human resources department.