FMLA denials are legitimate in defined circumstances and indefensible outside them. The risk is not in denying leave that does not qualify — it is in denying for a reason that sounds sensible but is not one the statute recognizes.
Eligibility requires twelve months of employment, 1,250 hours worked in the preceding twelve months, and fifty employees within seventy-five miles of the worksite. Failing any of the three means no entitlement.
The 1,250-hour test is the one most often miscalculated, because it counts hours actually worked rather than hours paid. See FMLA eligibility requirements.
Leave must be for a qualifying reason — birth or placement of a child, caring for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition, the employee's own serious health condition, or a qualifying exigency arising from military service.
Caring for a sibling, a grandparent or a parent-in-law does not qualify under the federal statute, though state laws may be broader. Nor does an illness that does not meet the serious health condition definition.
Once twelve weeks have been used within the applicable twelve-month period, there is no further FMLA entitlement until the period resets. Military caregiver leave carries a longer entitlement.
Note that exhaustion ends the FMLA analysis, not the whole analysis — additional leave may be a reasonable accommodation under the ADA.
Where certification was properly requested and the employee failed to provide it within a reasonable period, leave may be denied. This ground is only available if the employer met its own obligations: a written request, a reasonable period, and — where the certification was incomplete or insufficient — written notice of what was missing and an opportunity to cure.
Denying on an incomplete certification without offering the cure opportunity is among the most common procedural failures in FMLA administration.
Where an employee has fraudulently obtained leave, the entitlement does not apply. This is a serious allegation requiring genuine evidence rather than suspicion, and it should not be relied on without advice.
Each of these appears in real denials, and each converts a leave question into an interference claim.
A narrow provision allows an employer to deny job restoration — not the leave itself — to a salaried employee among the highest-paid ten percent, where restoration would cause substantial and grievous economic injury.
The conditions are strict, the notice requirements are specific, and the threshold is high. See exceptions to FMLA job restoration rights.
Record the ground relied on, the facts establishing it, the notices given, and the date the employee was informed. Where the denial rests on ineligibility, retain the calculation. Where it rests on certification, retain the request, the cure notice and the response or absence of one.
The employer bears the burden of showing it complied, and a denial without a documented basis is difficult to defend regardless of whether it was correct.
Where notice requirements were properly communicated and the employee failed to comply without adequate reason, leave may be delayed in defined circumstances. Outright denial on this basis is rarely appropriate.
Use the certification process, including recertification and second opinions where available. Acting on suspicion without following that process is the error.
Yes. The designation notice must state whether leave is designated and, where it is not, at least one reason.
See the FMLA training and certification program, and common pitfalls in FMLA administration.
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