Key Elements of the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act
This page features the following topics regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act:
- Overview
- Covered Employers
- Eligible Employees
- Employer Notice Requirements
- Employee Notice Requirements
- Intermittent Leave and Reduced Leave Schedule
- Maintenance of Health Benefits
- Military Family Leave Entitlements
- Notices and Forms
- Additional Information
Overview
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
applies to companies with 50 or more employees. (It also applies to all
public agencies, and all public and private elementary and secondary
schools.) These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for any of the following reasons:
- Birth and care of the newborn child of an employee;
- Placement of a child for adoption or foster care with the employee;
- To care for an immediate family member (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; or
- A qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s
spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on
“covered active duty.”
Covered employers must also provide up to
26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a
covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible
employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next
of kin (military caregiver leave).