The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible workers with 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. One of the most nuanced provisions is the option for employees to take FMLA leave through a reduced work schedule. But managing reduced work schedules under the FMLA can quickly become complex for HR teams.
When medically necessary, employees can take leave on a reduced schedule — when an employee’s usual weekly or daily work schedule is truncated, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Employees may use FMLA leave to work a reduced schedule for a number of reasons. Someone caring for a seriously ill family member, for instance, may need to work half of their usual workweek for a few months.
Employees can also work a reduced schedule to deal with their own serious health condition, which can be physical or mental. A worker may need time off to attend daily dialysis appointments, for instance. Or they may need time to attend addiction recovery treatment.
Administering FMLA leave through a reduced schedule may look quite different than orchestrating a more traditional 12-week block of leave. But employer responsibilities remain largely consistent in either scenario. Covered employers must calculate FMLA eligibility based on hours worked, determine the appropriate leave entitlement, ensure compliant medical certification, and closely track usage—especially when leave is taken in nontraditional formats like reduced schedules.
Key Compliance Rules and Common Challenges
When leave managers receive a reduced workweek request, the certification process unfolds like it would with any other FMLA inquiry. HR must begin by confirming the worker’s eligibility, verifying that the employee has worked enough hours and has a qualifying reason to take FMLA leave.
Next, the employer may require a medical certification to be completed by a healthcare provider. As with any FMLA request, the employer must allow 15 calendar days for the employee to return a completed certification.
The medical certification process allows the organization to verify that an employee or their family member has a serious health condition. It’s also a chance for the employer to gauge how long an employee may be out on leave.
HR professionals must distinguish between reduced schedules and intermittent leave. Both fall under the FMLA umbrella but have key differences that affect tracking, entitlement calculations, and documentation requirements. Intermittent FMLA leave is when employees take leave “in separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason,” according to the DOL.
An employee may take leave intermittently to attend medical appointments, deal with flare-ups of a chronic illness, or manage unexpected crises with a family member’s care.
Though intermittent leave and reduced schedules are different forms of FMLA leave, HR can manage them quite similarly. In both cases, it is essential to calculate entitlements accurately and track leave carefully to avoid compliance mistakes.
Managing and Tracking Reduced Schedules Effectively
Accurately calculating an employee’s FMLA allotment is critical—especially when reduced schedules are involved. HR teams must start with an employee’s regular workweek and convert their 12-week entitlement into total hours.
If an eligible employee works a standard 40-hour work week, then HR can assume they start with 480 hours of FMLA leave in a 12-month period.
Helpful Hint: The FMLA gives eligible workers 12 workweeks of unpaid, job protected leave in a 12-month period. There are 480 hours in twelve 40-hour weeks.
But not all employees keep a 40-hour schedule. When workers regularly work overtime, HR needs to calculate their FMLA allotment using the hours they normally work. If an eligible employee regularly works 60 hours each week, they would receive 720 hours of FMLA leave in a 12-month period.
Helpful Hint: 12 workweeks amount to 720 hours for an employee working 60 hours per week.
Using leave in such short increments makes an employee’s allotment last. As the DOL pointed out in an opinion letter, employees may be able to use FMLA leave “to work a reduced number of hours per day (or week) for an indefinite period of time.”
Consider the following example: let’s say that Avi is a dental hygienist who has recently had hand surgery. Avi used two weeks of paid leave to get through the bulk of his recovery, but his hand is still very sore, making him unable to perform an entire day’s work. Avi requests to work seven-hour days while he regains the strength he needs to work full time.
Let’s assume that Avi worked a normal 40-hour workweek and that he hadn’t used any FMLA before making this request. Assuming he’s eligible, Avi would have access to 480 hours of FMLA leave. To work one hour less than normal each day, he would use 5 hours of FMLA leave each week.
For simplicity’s sake, we’ll assume that Avi works 52 weeks per year. The dental hygienist could work his reduced schedule all year and never run out of FMLA leave. Working one hour less each day over the course of a year, he would use only 260 hours of FMLA leave, which is just over half of his allotted 480 hours.
These calculations become increasingly complex at scale—especially when managing a distributed workforce. AbsenceSoft helps eliminate manual tracking by automatically calculating FMLA eligibility and entitlement based on each employee’s schedule and usage.
Avoiding Pitfalls and Compliance Mistakes
When administering reduced schedule FMLA leave, it’s important to avoid these common mistakes:
- Confusing reduced schedule and intermittent leave: It’s common for reduced schedules to be grouped with intermittent leave, but they are distinct under the FMLA. HR teams should carefully document the type of leave requested and ensure each case is tracked accurately to maintain compliance.
- Incorrectly calculating an employee’s FMLA entitlement: The FMLA provides eligible employees with 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. That leave should be converted into hours based on the employee’s regular work schedule—which may exceed the standard 40-hour week. Accurately calculating entitlement is essential to avoid under- or overuse.
- Inaccurate leave tracking: When an employee uses FMLA leave to work a reduced schedule, they can continue doing so as long as they remain eligible and have hours available. Consistent, precise tracking is key. Incomplete or inaccurate records may result in an employee being asked to return prematurely, potentially leading to dissatisfaction or compliance concerns.
Reduced work schedules under the FMLA may overlap with protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When both laws apply, employers must coordinate leave and accommodations to provide the most beneficial protections to the employee, as required by law.
With either law, it’s important to prioritize proactive communication with employees. Understanding what employees need can help organizations provide leave and accommodations as compassionately as possible, while protecting business needs all the while.
Simplifying FMLA Compliance with Technology
Managing FMLA reduced schedules compliantly requires precision—and time HR teams may not have. AbsenceSoft automates eligibility and entitlement calculations, prepopulates compliant forms, and tracks usage by the hour, helping HR stay compliant without getting bogged down by manual processes.
- AbsenceSoft packet generator automatically attaches relevant forms based on leave type to employee communications, which come prepopulated with compliant text and key details. Then, the platform automatically sends communications to employees via email, text, and even mail when needed.
- When employees need leave, they can request time off through AbsenceSoft’s self-service portal. Leave managers can also locate employee data within the AbsenceSoft system and open a new case with just a few clicks.
- Time is automatically decremented from each employee’s time bank. Usage of intermittent leave, down to the minute, is captured for reporting and data.
To learn more about how AbsenceSoft can improve your organization’s approach to reduced work, intermittent leave, or any other form of FMLA leave, book a demo today.