The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 6 | how much leave can an employee tAke? | 101
EXAMPLE: Your company measures the FMLA leave year by the calendar year: From
January first to December 31, each eligible employee is entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA
leave. Your employee, Megan, begins her 12-week FMLA leave on October 1. As of
January 1, Megan is entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA leave for the new leave year. This
means she will be able to take a solid 24 weeks of FMLA leave in a row.
Counting Forward
If your company chooses the third method, an eligible employee is entitled
to up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave in the year beginning on the first day that
the employee takes FMLA leave. From that day forward, the employee has
12 months to take the full 12 weeks of FMLA leave. The next 12-month
period begins when leave is next taken after the initial 12-month leave year
ends. For example, if an employee began leave on February 15, 2008, the
employee would have until February 14, 2009 to use up the 12 weeks of
leave. If the employee again wanted leave beginning June 20, 2009, the clock
would start over.
This is a relatively simple method for your company to use, because you
can administer it easily on a case-by-case basis. However, it may allow
employees to take more than 12 weeks of leave in a given 12-month period
in the same manner that the first two methods do.
EXAMPLE: Your company counts the leave year by going forward one year from the
date FMLA leave is first taken. Megan begins a six-week FMLA leave on December 1,
2007. On October 20, 2008, Megan requests to take her remaining six weeks of leave,
returning on December 1, 2008. On January 2, 2009, Megan requests a full 12-week
FMLA leave. So, Megan will get 18 weeks of FMLA leave between October 20, 2008
and March 27, 2009.