DOL issues FMLA holiday guidance

In May, the Department of Labor issued an opinion letter, clarifying guidance around managing holiday hours with an employee’s Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitlement.

The letter serves to reinforce established interpretations, namely:

• When a holiday falls during a week in which the employee is taking a full week of FMLA leave, the entire week is counted as FMLA leave.
• When a holiday falls during a week in which the employee is taking less than a full week of leave, the holiday is not counted, unless the employee was scheduled to work that holiday and takes leave for an FMLA-related reason.

For example, let’s consider this year’s Independence Day holiday, which falls on a Tuesday. Say you have an office employee who would generally not be expected to work the holiday.

If that employee needs FMLA leave for Monday through Friday that week, they would use a full week of FMLA leave, even though they’re not required to work that Tuesday. If the employee needs FMLA leave for only Monday through Wednesday, the employee would use only 2/5 of a week of FMLA leave because they’re not required to report for work on the holiday.

Now let’s consider a power grid engineer who is scheduled to work on the Fourth of July, even though most of the company is off. If that employee needs FMLA leave for Monday through Wednesday, they would use 3/5 of a week of FMLA leave because they were scheduled to work.

In sum, if the employee is using less than a full week of FMLA leave at a time, count only the hours of leave actually used, regardless of whether there’s a holiday that week.