by Sofija Anderson, Michelle Barrett Falconer, Alexis C. Knapp, Casey Kurtz, Judith A. Paulson, Mark T. Phillis, Barbara Rittinger Rigo, Jean L. Schmidt, Terri M. Solomon and Susan A. P. Woodhouse, Littler
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one of the most complex and highly enforced employment laws, making accurate administration essential for employers and HR professionals. This comprehensive guide provides an in‑depth, practical analysis of FMLA requirements, helping HR teams confidently manage leave requests, maintain compliance, and reduce legal risk.
Designed for HR professionals, people managers, payroll teams, and compliance leaders, the guide explains when and how eligible employees are entitled to unpaid, job‑protected leave for family, medical, and military‑related reasons. It covers every stage of the FMLA process—from preparing for leave requests and issuing required notices to designating, calculating, tracking, and administering leave, including intermittent and reduced schedule leave.
The guide also addresses critical employer obligations during and after leave, such as maintaining health benefits, coordinating paid time off, handling reinstatement and fitness‑for‑duty certifications, and navigating the interaction between FMLA, ADA, workers’ compensation, state laws, and collective bargaining agreements. Detailed guidance on recordkeeping, confidentiality, prohibited actions, enforcement, and strategies to prevent abuse supports effective day‑to‑day compliance.
Whether you are developing policies, training managers, responding to leave requests, or conducting self‑audits, this resource serves as a trusted reference for understanding and administering the FMLA and staying prepared for future developments.
In this guide, learn about:
- The Family and Medical Leave Act
- Revisions/changes to the FMLA
- FMLA definitions, generally
- Preparing for FMLA requests
- General notice posting requirements
- Creating an FMLA policy and other written guidance
- Required employee notice
- Moonlighting policies
- Inflexible leave policies
- No-fault attendance policies
- FMLA employer coverage
- Covered employers
- Receiving and reviewing employee requests for FMLA leave
- Employee notice of need for FMLA leave
- Determining employee eligibility for FMLA leave
- Qualifying reasons for leave
- Requesting certification of the need for leave
- Other forms of certification
- Employer challenges to certifications
- Designating, calculating and tracking leave requests
- Eligibility notice to employee
- Rights and responsibilities notice
- Employer notices relating to key employee status
- Designation notice
- Calculating and tracking leave
- Determining leave entitlement
- Stacking of FMLA leave time
- Holidays and temporary cessations of business
- Administering and processing intermittent and reduced schedule leave requests
- Intermittent leave and reduced schedule leave – defined
- Employee notice of intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Required intermittent and reduced schedule leave
- Optional intermittent and reduced schedule leave
- Certification for intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Recertification of intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Designating intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Increments of intermittent leave
- Tracking intermittent and reduced schedule leave
- Special rules for elementary and secondary schools
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) considerations for intermittent leave
- Holidays and temporary cessations of business
- Temporary transfer of an employee on intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Returning from intermittent leave
- Challenges of intermittent or reduced schedule leave
- Methods to prevent abuse
- Employer obligations when employee is out on leave
- Maintenance of employee health benefits
- Payment of health care premiums while on FMLA leave
- Payment options
- Notice requirements regarding payment of health care premiums
- Failure to pay health plan premiums
- Failure to return from leave and effects on health care coverage
- Recovering premiums
- Changes in employer’s health plans or benefits
- Termination of health care coverage
- Maintenance of multi-employer health plan benefits
- Non-health benefits during FMLA leave
- Compensation while on FMLA leave
- Required substitution of paid time off benefits
- Option to use paid time off benefits
- Enforcing paid time off policy
- Employer tax credits for paid leave
- Other paid benefits
- Interplay of other disability leaves and state laws
- Treatment of holidays and company closures
- Public employers: compensatory time
- Pay docking
- Terminating or taking otherwise negative action against employees on leave
- Considerations prior to taking adverse actions
- Employer burden to show negative action is not based on exercise of FMLA rights
- Reinstating employees returning from FMLA leave
- Adequately preparing for reinstatement
- Return to work or fitness-for-duty certification
- Key employee notice relating to reinstatement
- Job restoration rights
- ame or equivalent position
- Circumstances affecting restoration rights
- Leave-related accommodations under the ADA and returning employees to work
- Interaction with workers’ compensation, state and local law and collective bargaining agreements
- Curbing FMLA fraud and abuse
- What is FMLA fraud
- What is FMLA abuse
- Moonlighting while on FMLA leave
- Strategies to combat FMLA fraud and abuse
- FMLA interplay
- FMLA recordkeeping requirements
- Types of records to keep
- Time period required to maintain certain records
- Method of retention
- Maintenance of personnel files
- Confidentiality and employee privacy concerns
- Confidential files
- Employer’s records retention policy
- Actions prohibited by the FMLA
- Interference
- Individual liability
- Waiver and release of FMLA rights
- Enforcement rights
- Filing a FMLA complaint with the Secretary of Labor
- Private lawsuit under the FMLA
- Relief available for prevailing FMLA litigants
- Violations of posting requirements
- Participating in a self-audit program
- Future developments
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About the author
Littler
Littler, the largest global employment and labor law practice, exclusively represents the global employer community in all aspects of employment and labor law. Littler litigates, mediates and negotiates some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record.
Littler’s practice areas are extensive and their expertise crosses over multiple industries and spans a wide array of employment law areas such as discrimination and harassment, labor management relations, executive compensation, ERISA and benefit plan litigation, leaves of absence and disability accommodation, hiring, performance management and termination, employment practices audits and wage and hour.
Littler is the exclusive author of Brightmine’s prestigious Employee Handbook. Their experience with preparing employee handbooks and their ongoing contributions to Brightmine in the areas of federal and state leaves of absence, disabilities and multistate employer issues made them a natural fit to partner with us on the creation of a robust set of model handbook policy statements and guidance for federal, state and key municipalities.
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