Family and Medical Leave Act

What it means

The Act covers employees who have worked long enough for a large enough employer. It provides a period of leave each year, and it protects the job and the health coverage while it is taken.

It covers care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition — not a parent-in-law, and not a sibling or grandparent, which surprises many families.

It is unpaid. Several states run separate paid family leave programs with their own eligibility, and the two are not the same entitlement.

Why it matters

Caring for a dying parent frequently qualifies, and employees frequently do not ask because they assume it does not.

The job protection matters more than whether it is paid: an employee who takes unprotected leave can lose the position, and one who takes FMLA leave cannot for that reason.

When you are likely to meet it

• When taking time off to care for a parent.
• When an employer asks for medical certification.
• When comparing federal protection with a state paid leave program.

How this varies by state

State paid family leave programs are separate entitlements, and which states have one, who is covered and for how long are set by state law.

Related terms

• HospiceCare that focuses on comfort rather than cure, for someone expected to live six months or less.
• Respite careShort-term care that gives an unpaid family caregiver a break — a few hours, a day, or a stay of some days.
• Serious health conditionThe federal family leave law's definition of the illness that entitles an eligible employee to take protected leave.

Official sources

The authority this page describes, at the agency that publishes it. Sahvelo does not restate a rule from a secondary source.

• Department of Labor — the Family and Medical Leave Act (opens in a new tab)

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Caregiving and work
• Paid family leave