The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

16 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Chapter Highlights
Your company is covered by the FMLA if it
employed 50 or more employees for 20 or
more weeks in the current or preceding year.
Employees to count toward the 50 or more
minimum include:
• all full-time employees
• all part-time employees
• employees on leave if they are expected to
return to work, and
• employees who work jointly for your
company and another company.
These workers don’t count towards the
50-employee minimum:
• independent contractors
• employees working outside the U.S or its
territories
• employees hired or terminated during a
calendar week (for that week), and
• employees who are not expected to return
from leave.
For purposes of the FMLA’s 20-week
minimum, employees are employed by
your company in any week in which they
are on payroll.
The 20 weeks of employing 50 or more
employees don’t have to be consecutive,
as long as they occur in the current or
preceding year.
When your company is a joint employer,
your company’s responsibilities under the
FMLA depend on whether it is a “primary”
or “secondary” employer.
If your company is a covered employer,
you must:
• post general FMLA information at every
worksite, and
• include information about the FMLA in
your company’s personnel handbook or
other written personnel policies.