Leave · all 51 states
FMLA: who qualifies, how much leave and how it is paid
The Family and Medical Leave Act protects your job and your health insurance during a long absence, but it does not pay you. The calculator runs its tests on your situation.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives an eligible employee up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, or up to 26 workweeks to care for a servicemember with a serious injury or illness. Three tests decide eligibility: you have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, you worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave, and at least 50 employees work for the employer within 75 miles of your worksite. The employer itself must be covered: private companies with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks, and every public agency and school. During the leave your group health coverage continues on the same terms, and you return to the same or an equivalent job. The leave is unpaid; 14 jurisdictions run insurance programs that replace part of your pay.
FMLA eligibility
Eligible
12 workweeks of job-protected leave left
| Employer: 50+ employees | Met |
| 50+ employees within 75 miles | Met |
| 12 months with this employer | Met |
| 1,250 hours in the last 12 months | Met |
| Leave left in the 12-month period | 12 of 12 workweeks |
| Paid leave program in New York | New York Paid Family Leave, up to 12 weeks, max $1,229/week |
Tests of 29 CFR 825.110. The employer counts the 12-month period one of four ways (calendar year, fixed year, from first use, or rolling back). How this is calculated.
The reasons that qualify
The law lists them. You can take FMLA leave for the birth of a child and to bond with the newborn, for the placement of a child for adoption or foster care, to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition, for your own serious health condition when it keeps you from doing the essential functions of your job, and for qualifying exigencies when a spouse, child or parent is on covered active duty. Bonding leave must be used within 12 months of the birth or placement. A serious health condition is more than a cold: it involves an overnight stay in a hospital, or continuing treatment by a health care provider, such as a period of incapacity of more than three days with follow-up care, a chronic condition like asthma or diabetes, or pregnancy. The eligibility guide walks through each test with examples.
How the 12 weeks are counted
The entitlement is measured in workweeks, so it follows your normal schedule: an employee who works three days a week and takes a whole week off uses one week. Leave can be taken in one block, intermittently in separate blocks, or as a reduced schedule, for example half days during chemotherapy. Your employer chooses one of four ways to define the 12-month period: the calendar year, a fixed year such as a fiscal year, a period measured forward from your first day of leave, or a rolling period measured backward from each day you use leave. With the rolling method, weeks come back gradually as old absences fall out of the 12-month window.
Pay during FMLA leave
Federal law does not pay you. You may choose, or your employer may require you, to use accrued paid leave at the same time, so that vacation or sick days run alongside the FMLA clock. Short-term disability insurance from your employer can also pay during your own illness or after childbirth. In California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington, a state insurance program pays a share of your wages, often for longer than 12 weeks when family and medical leave are added together.
Paid family leave in your state
New Jersey Family Leave Insurance (FLI)
Up to 12 weeks
| Weeks payable from your plan | 8 |
| Maximum weekly benefit 2026 | $1,119.00 |
| Most you could receive | $8,952 |
Your benefit is a share of your own wages, up to the maximum.
What your employer must do
An employer covered by the law must post a notice, tell you within five business days whether you are eligible once you ask for leave or once it learns the absence may qualify, and designate the leave as FMLA leave in writing. It can ask for a medical certification, and you generally have 15 calendar days to return it. It must keep your group health plan going as if you were working, and you keep paying your usual share of the premium. On your return you get the same job or one with equivalent pay, benefits and duties. Interfering with FMLA rights or retaliating against someone who uses them is unlawful, and complaints go to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.
When you are not eligible
New hires, part-time workers under 1,250 hours a year and people at small employers are the usual cases. State laws can step in: several states protect leave at smaller employers or after shorter service, and state paid leave programs usually protect your job even when the FMLA does not. Check your state page for the rule where you work.