Human Resource Blog

Lenght of FMLA leave in Arizona

My understanding is that some states may allow more than 12 weeks of FMLA during the course of a year.

Does the State of Arizona allow 16 weeks of FMLA leave during the course of either a calendar or rolling year?

Thank You
Lou Barbato

Arizona does not have a family leave law at the state level that would entitle an employee to more than 12 weeks off, total, for all circumstances. The only leave law an Arizona employer needs to be concerned with is the federal FMLA. As the employer, you determine whether the calendar year or rolling year is used for FMLA. Either is legal, as long as it is consistent.

You can give pregnant employees more than 12 weeks of unpaid time off, but you are not legally obligated to in Arizona.

Note: You are not entirely correct about states requiring more than 12 weeks of FMLA, just so you know. The situation is this: Some states have both FMLA and a state family leave law. An employee who has already taken 12 weeks of FMLA may qualify for an additional 4 to 6 weeks of leave under the family leave law in some cases. Suppose a pregnant Massachusetts employee takes 12 weeks off in 2010 to care for her mother, who has cancer. The employee would be entitled to additional non-FMLA time off under the state leave law, the MMLA, when her baby was born. But again, this situation does not apply in Arizona.