Hours to Qualify for FMLA

Shary · June 2006

All of the FMLA guidelines say that in order to qualify for FMLA, an employee has to have worked 12 months and worked 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months. I had attended a class where I was instructed that an employee in working 12 months has to have put in 2,080 hours initially, which is 52 weeks x 40 hours. I have an employee who has completed one year of service, but is a part-time employee. Is it correct that she needs to put in 2,080 hours initially before she qualifies for FMLA? Then of course it would take a part-time employee longer than 12 months of services to be able to be eligible for FMLA. This information came from an attorney, but all of the FMLA guidelines do not address the 2,080 hour initial requirement.

Whirlwind · June 2006

I could be missing something but I've never, ever heard anything about 2,080 hours. From a practical standpoint, that seems like it would be an almost impossible requirement to meet since very few people ever go a full 12 months without missing a single hour of work. The requirement for the number of hours is for the number of hours physically worked, not just paid, and 2,080 doesn't even allow for holidays.

That doesn't make sense to me, but if I'm wrong I sure would like to know about it and be given a clear statutory reference.

LindaS · June 2006

That is incorrect. They need to have worked 12 months and 1,250 hours within that 12 month period. There is nothing in the FMLA regulations addressing the 2080 hours.

VS · June 2006

My guess is that the attorney was using the 2080 hours to define 12 months. There are 2080 hours in a year. But to previous posters' notes, an employee must work 1250 hours (1000 in Wisconsin and NJ and maybe others, which must be consecutive and 12 months, which do not have to be consecutive.

pork1 · June 2006

VS: Have you gotten your on copy of Federal Regulations Part 825, The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. You can get one from your DOL folks for free. Listenning to attorneys is good, but they some times do not speak HR language. This booklet is easy to read and mine is marked up, tabbed, and spit on in several places.

You evidently need to re-read this booklet or go on-line and get the real skinny for yourself. 1 year is an anniversary year for qualification as an employee. 1250 hours is the 2nd qualifier, an application with cerification by a physician is a final qualifier.

Additionally, there are several options for the company which identifys the running date of your FMLA year. Ours is a running year which starts on the date of injury or illness. Upon receiving an application with physician's certification we look back for one year and see if she is over 1 year in enrollment. 2nd we run a report that reflects the total number of hours worked, to date, including O/T. If there are at least 1250 hours worked, regardless of full time, permanant, or part-time employee status, we seek then to approve and/or disapprove the application for FMLA. We then respond in writting the approval or disapproval of the application. If disapproved, we move toward termanation as medically disqualified/and attendance issue and not the medical conditions reported.

PORK

Hours to Qualify for FMLA

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