FMLA Eligibility Calculator (Federal Family and Medical Leave Act)
Who is eligible for FMLA leave?
An employee is eligible if the employer is covered (a private employer with 50+ employees in 20 or more weeks this year or last, or any public agency or school) and the employee has worked there 12 months, worked 1,250 hours in the 12 months before leave, and works where the employer has 50 employees within 75 miles. Eligible employees get up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year, or 26 for military caregiving.
The 1,250-hour test counts hours actually worked, not hours paid: holidays and paid leave do not count, overtime does. It works out at about 24 hours a week, which is why many part-time employees qualify and many assume they do not.
Enter the employer and employee details to see which of the four tests are met and how much leave is left.
Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Federal rules only; state leave laws, many of them paid, are listed as a caveat rather than calculated.
Check eligibility
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The four tests
Covered employer (29 CFR 825.104): a private employer with 50 or more employees on each working day during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year; any public agency; any public or private elementary or secondary school. Eligible employee (29 CFR 825.110): 12 months of employment, which need not be consecutive (time before a break of seven years or more generally does not count); 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before the leave starts; and employment at a worksite where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Airline flight crews have their own hours test.
Which 12 months
Employers choose one method of measuring the 12-month period and apply it to everyone: the calendar year; a fixed year such as a fiscal year or the employee's anniversary; 12 months forward from the first day of FMLA leave; or a rolling 12 months measured backward from each day of leave. The rolling-backward method stops employees stacking two 12-week blocks back to back across a year boundary, which is why many employers use it.
What this will not tell you
This applies the federal tests to the figures you enter. It does not decide whether a condition is a "serious health condition", how hours of service are counted for unusual schedules, joint-employer questions, or state laws (California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts and others have their own, often paid, leave). Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Questions people actually ask
How many hours do you need for FMLA?
1,250 hours of service in the 12 months immediately before the leave begins, about 24 hours a week. Hours actually worked count, including overtime; paid leave and holidays do not.
Do I qualify for FMLA if I work part-time?
Yes, if you have worked 1,250 hours in the last 12 months and meet the other tests (12 months of employment, a covered employer, 50 employees within 75 miles).
Is FMLA leave paid?
No. FMLA leave is unpaid but job-protected, with group health coverage continued. Accrued paid leave can be used during it, and several states run paid family leave programmes.
Does the 12 months have to be continuous?
No. The 12 months of employment need not be consecutive, though employment before a break in service of seven years or more generally does not count.
How long is FMLA military caregiver leave?
Up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness, combined with other FMLA leave in that period.
Sources
Checked against the text of the law on 16 October 2026. Laws and notified rates change; if a source below has moved on, the source wins over this page.
- US Department of Labor, Family and Medical Leave Act: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla
- 29 CFR 825.104 (covered employer): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/825.104
- 29 CFR 825.110 (eligible employee): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/825.110
- 29 CFR 825.200 (amount of leave and the 12-month period): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/825.200
- 29 CFR 825.127 (military caregiver leave): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/825.127
Cite this tool
Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.
Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. FMLA Eligibility Calculator. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/fmla-eligibility-calculator/
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Planning cover for someone on leave?
The free Employee Turnover Cost Calculator shows what losing someone costs, including the ramp-up time that usually costs more than the agency fee; it is the comparison that makes covering a leave worth doing well.