Human Resource Blog

Annual Renewal based upon calendar year

Is it true that the FMLA documentation runs within a calendar year. IE The employee files and is accepted for FMLA in October and misses days intermittenly through the end of December.

Is it true that once the new calendar year begins the employee can (or is required to file a new form) and beginning January 1st the number of days allowed (12 weeks) begins over again, regardless of how many days the employee had used in the previous year?

In other words; Lets say Bill filed for FMLA in October 2009, was accepted, and used 60 hours of the 12 week period through the end of December, 2009.

In January Bill submitted a new FMLA form that was accepted for 2010. Does this effort reset the 12 week period that can be used on FMLA? or, do the previous days used in (2009)the prior year count, against the new 12 week period approved in January of the the new year?

In simple terms, does FMLA run from calendar year to calendar year and renewed when refiled at the beginning of each year, or does the first accepted filing just continue to be reduced until the 12 weeks expires regardless of the year?

Robin

No, this is absolutely not true. As the employer, you decide how the FMLA year is tabulated.

The federal FMLA or Family and Medical Leave Act entitles employees to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave in a 12 month period. There are 4 ways an employer can count that *12 month period.* By far the most common is for the 12 month period to commence on the first day the employee takes FMLA.

In your example, suppose Bill filed for intermittent FMLA on October 10, 2009. His 12 months would end on October 9, 2010. Bill would have a total of 12 weeks of FMLA to use during that period. If he exhausts 12 weeks of FMLA in March, he has no more FMLA until October 10, 2010.

A few employers use the calendar year as the basis for tabulating FMLA. That is one of the 4 legal methods of counting FMLA. As you noted, this method has drawbacks. When this method is used, theoretically an employee could take 12 continuous weeks of FMLA in October, November and December, and be entitled to another 12 continuous weeks of FMLA in January, February and March. This is why most companies do not use this system.

Note that once you choose a method of counting FMLA, you cannot change it for employees who are currently on FMLA.

Read more about this at:   http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.200.htm#