Who is Eligible for Federal Family Medical Leave?

Understanding FMLA Eligibility

The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is narrower in scope than the Massachusetts family medical leave law. It only applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, and public sector employers. Further, an individual employee is required to have worked for the employer for 12 months, with a minimum of 1,250 hours, before they are eligible for leave.

FMLA also differs from the state law in that leave is not required to be paid, from any source.

It is, however, job protected leave. This means that an eligible employee must be returned to their position, or a similar position, after the leave has ended. It also means that an employer cannot retaliate against someone for taking the leave.

Employers are also not allowed to interfere with an FMLA leave, by requiring the employee to work, or to engage in a non-trivial way with the workplace, while on leave.

Learn more here about the Massachusetts Paid Family Leave Law.