Human Resource Blog

Arizona Unscheduled Intermittent FMLA

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One of our employees has come to work at our

Arizona company 2 or 3 hours late several times. She is pregnant and has severe morning sickness. She wants to use FMLA for that time, but I told her that FMLA only covers and entire day of leave, not a few hours here or there. Can she do that?

If she meets the eligibility criteria, the answer is yes. She is entitled to intermittent leave in segments of less than a day at a time, because Arizona is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The state is one of about 39 that do not have their own maternity or disability leave laws. So the federal law applies, and there is nothing in the federal law that says your employee or any other cannot take FMLA leave in blocks of less than a day at a time. And because of the nature of morning sickness, she need not schedule the time off in advance.

What are the criteria she must meet? She must have worked for you at least 1,250 hours during the last 12-month period. Her nausea and vomiting must be severe enough to require time off. And she must have a doctor’s statement. Given those conditions, she is entitled to take off whatever hours she needs, provided she stays within the limit of 480 hours (or 12 weeks) a year. 

She should be aware that the time she takes off during pregnancy is counted toward her total. So if she takes, say, 80 hours off before the birth of the child, she has only 400 hours (or 10 weeks) off remaining after childbirth.

You, as employer, have an obligation to assure that her company health insurance coverage is maintained.

Some say the law wasn’t intended to cover this kind of leave. Many employers have concerns about the option to take FMLA leave intermittently. The U.S. Labor Department actually considers it the number one concern among employers, and there’s a possibility that the law will be rewritten in the future.

The law covers workers at sites with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile circle. Public agencies are covered by it as well. Public and private schools, whether secondary or elementary, must abide by the FMLA even if they have fewer than 50 staff members.