Policy required document Workplace
Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) Policy
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees of covered employers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year for their own serious health condition, a family member's, a new child, or certain military family needs, with health insurance continued.
The policy is the one document on this list that federal law requires in so many words: an employer with 50 or more employees must post the general notice and, if it has a handbook or any written leave guidance, must put the notice in it (29 CFR 825.300(a)).
Failing to give the notice can itself be interference with the employee's rights, with liability for lost pay and benefits (29 CFR 825.300(e)). An employer with 50 or more employees and no FMLA policy is out of compliance before any leave is ever requested.
The claims come from process, not intent. The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division closed 301 FMLA cases with violations in fiscal year 2025, recovering $1,029,463 for 342 employees; the most common findings were denial of leave (116), discrimination or discipline for taking it (106), failure to reinstate to the same or an equivalent job (84) and termination (65).
In the federal courts, 1,044 new FMLA cases were filed in the year to September 30, 2025, up from 945 (Table C-2). A working policy names who is eligible, how to request leave, what medical certification will be asked for and when, how leave runs against paid time, and what happens on return.
Nearly half the states have their own family or medical leave law that stacks on top at a lower headcount, so the policy is a federal core with state addenda.
Obligation ledger
Who requires it, and what each one says.
| Source | Applies when | What it requires | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family and Medical Leave Act, definitions 29 U.S.C. 2611(4) | Private employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year | Defines the covered employer. Coverage is the trigger for every duty below. | Mandatory |
| FMLA regulations, employer notice requirements 29 CFR 825.300(a) | Every covered employer | Post the general notice where employees can see it, even if no employee is eligible. If the employer has eligible employees, also give the general notice to each employee by including it in the employee handbook or other written leave guidance if such materials exist, or by distributing it to each new employee at hiring. Legally required. | Mandatory |
| FMLA regulations, consequences of failing to give notice 29 CFR 825.300(e) | Every covered employer | Failure to follow the notice requirements may constitute interference with, restraint or denial of FMLA rights, with liability for compensation and benefits lost and other actual monetary losses. The missing policy is itself the violation. | Mandatory |
| FMLA regulations, protection from interference and retaliation 29 CFR 825.220(c) | Every covered employer | Employers cannot use the taking of FMLA leave as a negative factor in employment actions such as hiring, promotions or disciplinary actions, nor count FMLA leave under no-fault attendance policies. This is the rule an attendance policy most often breaks. | Mandatory |
| California Family Rights Act Cal. Gov. Code 12945.2 | California employers with five or more employees | Up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave with a broader family definition than the FMLA, at a tenth of the federal headcount threshold. State addendum needed. | Mandatory |
Required sections
- Eligibility: 12 months of service, 1,250 hours in the prior 12 months, and a worksite with 50 employees within 75 miles (29 CFR 825.110)
- Qualifying reasons, including the military family provisions
- Amount of leave and how the 12-month period is measured; the employer must pick one of the four permitted methods and apply it to everyone (29 CFR 825.200)
- Intermittent and reduced-schedule leave
- How to request leave and the notice the employee must give, 30 days where foreseeable
- Medical certification: when it is requested, the 15-day window to return it, recertification, and fitness-for-duty on return (29 CFR 825.305 to 825.313)
- Whether accrued paid leave runs concurrently, and the rule that the employer decides this in advance
- Health insurance continuation and premium payment during leave
- Reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position, and the key employee exception
- The general notice text itself, or a statement of where it is posted (29 CFR 825.300(a))
- State family leave addenda where the employer has staff in a state with its own law
What the examiner asks for
What changed
Change log.
Frameworks
Where this document is required.
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Questions
What people ask.
We have 48 employees. Do we need this?
Not under the federal act, but check your state. California applies its family leave law at five employees, New York's paid family leave covers nearly every private employer, and a dozen other states have their own programs. Count carefully, too: the 50 includes part-time staff and anyone on the payroll for the week, and it looks back to the prior year.
What happens if we are covered and simply never wrote the policy?
The regulation treats the missing notice as possible interference with the employee's rights, which can carry liability for lost pay and benefits (29 CFR 825.300(e)). It also costs the employer the argument that the employee failed to follow the request procedure, because there was no procedure to follow.
Can our attendance policy count FMLA absences?
No. The regulation says FMLA leave cannot be counted under no-fault attendance policies or used as a negative factor (29 CFR 825.220(c)). In FY 2025 the Labor Department's most common FMLA findings after denial of leave were discipline and termination connected to it. The attendance policy has to carve protected leave out.
Is the poster enough on its own?
Only for a covered employer with no eligible employees. Once anyone is eligible, the notice must also be in the handbook or written leave guidance, or handed to each new hire.
Sources
29 U.S.C. 2611, FMLA definitions (Cornell LII)29 CFR 825.300, employer notice requirements (Cornell LII)29 CFR 825.220, protection for employees who request leave (Cornell LII)U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, FMLA enforcement data by fiscal yearU.S. Department of Labor, FMLA employee rights posterTable C-2, U.S. District Courts civil cases commenced by nature of suit, 12 months ending September 30, 2025 (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts)