The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 2 | is your company covered by the FMLA? | 17
Before you get your first request for FMLA leave, you have to figure
out whether the law applies to your company. The reason? Companies
subject to the FMLA are required to post notices about the FMLA
and include FMLA information in employee handbooks or company
policies. You don’t have the luxury of waiting for an employee to raise the
issue; you are legally required to inform your employees of their rights under
the law. If your company doesn’t provide this information, it can’t deny
FMLA leave to employees who fail to meet their obligations under the law
(for example, to provide advance notice of the need for leave or a medical
certification from a health care provider, confirming the need for leave). Your
company may also have to pay penalties to the government.
This chapter will help you figure out whether the FMLA applies to your
company. It covers:
• whether your company is directly covered by the FMLA
• whether your company is covered by the FMLA as a joint employer, and
• what actions you must take, right away, if your company is covered.
Calculating the Size of Your Company
Your company is covered by the FMLA if it employed 50 or more employees
for each working day during 20 or more weeks in the current or preceding
year. The purpose of this 50-employee rule is to exempt small businesses
from the FMLA: Congress recognized that these businesses might not be
able to afford to provide the leave and benefits—and bear the administrative
burdens—mandated by the law.
Most companies won’t be splitting hairs: Companies with more than 50
employees know they are subject to the FMLA, and very small companies
know they aren’t. However, for companies that are close to that 50-employee
dividing line, the details about which employees count towards the
minimum become very important. For example, managers sometimes aren’t
sure whether part-time employees count toward the minimum, or whether
to count temporary workers who are placed—and technically employed—by
an outside agency. To evaluate whether the FMLA applies to your company,
we’ll walk through each of these factors, step by step.