Alert

DOL Clarifies How to Calculate 12 Weeks of FMLA Leave

October 20, 2025

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires covered employers to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees for certain qualifying events. Calculating the 12 weeks is simple enough when an employee is out for blocks of time. But what about when an employee takes intermittent leave? This calculation is more difficult, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has recently issued an opinion letter to help clarify.

FMLA in Cyclical Shift Work

The scenario present to the WHD involved correctional law enforcement employees who worked a fixed “Pitman Schedule” of 12-hour shifts over a two week cycle. The Pitman Schedule also required the employees to work mandatory overtime; however, the employees could also volunteer for additional hours that were not part of the Pitman Schedule. The question before the WHD was, how should the employer calculate the hourly equivalent of FMLA leave available to these employees?

In calculating the available leave, employers must break down the 12 week entitlement into the hourly equivalent. If an employee typically works a forty-hour workweek, the calculation is relatively simple: multiply 12 times 40 hours, and the employee would be entitled to at least 480 hours of FMLA leave.

Complicated FMLA Math

In application, the calculation is as simple as it seems, since the employee’s actual schedule determines the conversion calculation.

The WHD provided two examples:

• (1) if an employee would otherwise work 30 hours per week, the employee would be entitled to 360 hours of FMLA leave;
• (2) if an employee typically works 60 hours per week, the employee would be entitled to 720 hours.

If the employee’s schedule varies from week to week and the employer cannot determine with certainty how many hours the employee would have otherwise worked, the employer can use the weekly average over the 12 months prior to the leave in making the calculation.

Calculating Overtime for FMLA

In the scenario presented to the WHD, the agency opined that the appropriate calculation would entail taking into account the employee’s regularly scheduled hours including the mandatory overtime. The employer would not, however, consider the employee’s volunteer overtime hours in making the calculation. Since the correctional officers were regularly scheduled to work 84 hours in a two week period, they would be have 504 hours available for FMLA leave.

Handling an employee’s intermittent leave under the FMLA is one of the more complicated tasks an employer has under the statute. It becomes even more complicated when attempting to determine the “value” of the required 12 week period. The WHD has now clarified that employers must consider all time that an employee is scheduled to work, including mandatory (but not voluntary) overtime.