On May 30, 2023, the Department of Labor (\u201cDOL\u201d) issued an opinion letter clarifying how to calculate leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act (\u201cFMLA\u201d) during a week containing a holiday. It is important for employers to properly calculate employee FMLA leave time because a miscalculation could be considered an interference with an employee\u2019s FMLA rights.<\/p>\n
The FMLA requires covered employers to provide eligible employees up to twelve workweeks of unpaid leave within a twelve-month period for qualifying family or medical reasons or twenty-six workweeks of unpaid leave within a twelve-month period for caretaking of qualifying service members. \u00a0Employees may take FMLA leave intermittently by taking leave in separate blocks of time or by working shortened weeks or days. The amount of FMLA leave taken by employees is calculated as a fraction of the employee’s actual workweek. For example, an employee who normally works forty hours a week but takes off eight hours for FMLA reasons, would use 1\/5 of a week of his or her FMLA leave entitlement.<\/p>\n
Full Workweek of FMLA Leave<\/strong><\/p>\n