How to Handle an FMLA Request, Step by Step

Step 1: Confirm the FMLA covers your company

A private employer is covered if it had 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or the previous calendar year. Public agencies and local educational agencies (schools) are covered too. If you are below that line, the federal FMLA does not apply to you at all.

Being under 50 does not always mean no job-protected leave. Some states set much lower thresholds. California, for example, gives job-protected family and medical leave at employers with 5 or more employees. See which states have paid family and medical leave and maternity leave for small businesses.

Step 2: Recognize the request and check eligibility

Employees do not have to say "FMLA" to be protected. They only have to give you enough information to see that the leave may qualify. Your 5-business-day clock starts when the employee asks or when you learn the leave may be for an FMLA reason. For leave they can plan, employees should give 30 days of notice when that is possible. For unexpected leave, they give notice as soon as possible and practical, usually through your normal call-in process.

The six qualifying reasons are:

The birth of a child and bonding with the child, within 12 months of the birth.
Placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and bonding with that child.
The employee's own serious health condition that makes them unable to do their job, including pregnancy-related incapacity and prenatal care.
Caring for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition.
A qualifying exigency caused by a spouse's, child's or parent's military deployment to a foreign country.
Caring for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness (military caregiver leave, up to 26 workweeks).

Employee eligibility (all three must be true)
Requirement	What it means
12 months with you	The months do not have to be in a row. Time before a break in service of 7 years or more generally does not count, with exceptions such as military service.
1,250 hours	At least 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months right before the leave starts.
50 employees within 75 miles	You employ at least 50 people within 75 miles of their worksite. This count is taken when the employee gives notice of the need for leave.

The 12 months and 1,250 hours are measured as of the date the leave is to start, not the date the employee asks.

Step 3: Send the notices on time

The Department of Labor (DOL) publishes optional forms. You can use your own versions if they contain the same information.

FMLA deadlines and forms
What	Who	Deadline	DOL form
General notice (poster plus handbook or new-hire materials)	Employer	Always posted; given at hire if there is no handbook	General notice poster
Eligibility notice	Employer	Within 5 business days of the request, or of learning the leave may qualify	WH-381
Rights and responsibilities notice	Employer	With the eligibility notice	WH-381
Medical certification	Employee	Within 15 calendar days of your request	WH-380-E (own condition), WH-380-F (family member)
Fix an incomplete certification	Employee	Within 7 calendar days of your written notice, in most cases	None
Designation notice	Employer	Within 5 business days of having enough information, absent extenuating circumstances	WH-382

The rights and responsibilities notice tells the employee how you count the 12-month period, whether certification is required, how paid leave is used, how they pay their share of health premiums, and their right to return to work. Missing a notice can count as interfering with FMLA rights, and an employer can be liable for lost pay, other losses, liquidated damages and equitable relief.

Step 4: Ask for medical certification if you need it

You may require certification from a health care provider for leave for the employee's own serious health condition or a family member's. Medical certification does not apply to leave to bond with a new child. For military leave, the DOL forms are WH-384 (qualifying exigency), WH-385 (current servicemember) and WH-385-V (veteran).

Give the employee 15 calendar days to return it.
If it is incomplete or unclear, say in writing what is missing. The employee then usually has 7 calendar days to fix it.
The employee's direct supervisor may never contact the health care provider. HR or another designated official may, to authenticate or clarify the form.
If you doubt it, you may get a second opinion, and a third if the first two disagree. You pay for them, including reasonable travel costs.
Keep certifications and medical records in a confidential file, separate from the personnel file.

Step 5: Run the leave: pay, health coverage and intermittent time

FMLA leave is unpaid. You may let or require employees to use accrued paid leave at the same time. That time still counts as FMLA leave.
Keep group health insurance on the same terms as if they were working. The employee keeps paying their normal share of the premium.
Pick one way to measure the 12-month period (calendar year, a fixed year, forward from first leave, or rolling backward) and use it for everyone. If you never chose one, you must use whichever is most beneficial to the employee.
When medically necessary, leave can be taken in separate blocks or as a reduced schedule. Bonding leave can be taken that way only if you agree.
Count intermittent leave in the smallest unit your payroll uses for other leave, as long as that unit is not more than one hour.
Spouses who both work for you share one combined 12 weeks for bonding leave.

Step 6: Restore the job and keep the records

When leave ends, the employee returns to the same job or an equivalent one: virtually identical pay, benefits and other terms, normally with the same schedule and work location. Give them any unconditional raises, such as cost of living increases, that happened while they were out. You may not retaliate against anyone for using FMLA leave, and FMLA absences cannot count against them in a disciplinary or attendance points system.

Keep FMLA records for at least 3 years: payroll and identifying data, the dates and hours of FMLA leave, copies of the notices both sides gave, your benefit and leave policies, premium payments, and any disputes about designating leave. For other records you need to keep, see how long to keep employee records.

Common mistakes

Waiting for the employee to use the word "FMLA" before starting the 5-day clock.
Never sending a designation notice, so weeks of leave are never counted against the 12.
Counting heads company-wide for the 75-mile test, or forgetting it entirely for remote and multi-site teams.
Letting a supervisor call the doctor.
Stopping health coverage during the leave, or not telling the employee how to pay their share.
Forgetting state leave that runs alongside the FMLA, such as a state paid leave program.

Common questions

Can we require employees to use their PTO during FMLA leave?

Yes. The FMLA lets an employer require (or allow) accrued paid leave to be used at the same time as FMLA leave. The time counts against the 12 weeks either way.

Does the FMLA apply if we have fewer than 50 employees?

No. Private employers are covered only with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks this year or last. State laws can still give job-protected leave at smaller sizes.

Can we count FMLA absences in our attendance points system?

No. Using FMLA leave against an employee in a points system, a promotion decision or discipline is prohibited retaliation.

What happens if we never chose a 12-month period method?

You must use whichever of the four methods is most beneficial to the employee asking for leave.

How MambaHR handles this

When a leave request comes in through Slack or the web request form, MambaHR checks federal FMLA eligibility against the employee record, approves time off within your policy, and cites any state paid-leave program that also applies, sending it to a person to decide how they combine. The leave then becomes a payroll change for a person to approve, and every step is logged.

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Sources

Last reviewed October 2, 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and exceptions apply, so check the sources above or an employment lawyer before you act on a specific case.