public-service · FMLA coverage and eligibility
FMLA Coverage and Eligibility: What the Federal Rule Says
The federal test for which employers must offer FMLA leave and which employees qualify, quoted directly from 29 CFR Part 825.
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Updated: Sources: 3
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What matters now
- Coverage generally turns on a 50-employee, 20-workweek headcount test.
- Certain public employers are covered without regard to employee count.
- Eligibility requires 12 months employed, 1,250 hours, and a 50-employee worksite radius.
- The 12 months of employment need not be consecutive.
- State family and medical leave laws can exist alongside the federal rule.
Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act regulations, an employer is “covered” mainly if it is a private-sector employer “who employs 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year” (29 CFR §825.104, eCFR Part 825). Separately, an employee is “eligible” only if the employee meets three conditions set out in 29 CFR §825.110. This article restates exactly what those two regulatory sections say — it does not determine whether any specific employer or worker meets the test.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- Coverage generally turns on a 50-employee, 20-workweek headcount test, but certain public employers are covered “without regard to the number of employees employed” (29 CFR §825.104, eCFR Part 825).
- Eligibility requires the employee to have “been employed by the employer for at least 12 months” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
- Eligibility also requires “at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
- Eligibility also requires that “50 or more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that worksite” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
- The 12-month employment requirement counts periods that “need not be consecutive” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
Which employers are “covered employers”
The regulation’s headcount test applies to private-sector employers: an employer is covered if it “employs 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year” (29 CFR §825.104, eCFR Part 825). That is a headcount-and-duration test tied to the current or prior calendar year, not a one-time snapshot.
The regulation also identifies employers that are covered “without regard to the number of employees employed” (29 CFR §825.104, eCFR Part 825) — meaning the 50-employee threshold does not apply to every employer category the regulation addresses.
Eligible-worker definition
29 CFR §825.110 sets out three conditions an employee must meet to be eligible for FMLA leave from a covered employer, restated here exactly as the regulation states them:
- The employee “Has been employed by the employer for at least 12 months” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825). The regulation clarifies that this 12-month period “need not be consecutive” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
- The employee has worked “at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825).
- “50 or more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that worksite” (29 CFR §825.110, eCFR Part 825) — a worksite-proximity headcount that is distinct from the employer-wide coverage test above.
All three conditions come from the same regulatory section and are restated together because the rule presents them as a single eligibility test.
State law is not overridden
The U.S. Department of Labor’s own FMLA fact sheet notes that federal coverage and eligibility rules are a floor, not a ceiling: “Some States have their own family and medical leave laws. Nothing in the FMLA prevents employees from receiving protections under other laws” (DOL Fact Sheet #28). This article does not describe the content of any state’s law — only that such laws can exist separately from the federal test above.
The Department of Labor fact sheet cited here carries a “Revised March 2025” notice (DOL Fact Sheet #28), and the Department’s general FMLA page states it was “Last updated on January 26, 2026” (DOL FMLA page).
What this article does not answer
This article restates only the federal regulatory text on employer coverage and employee eligibility. It does not decide whether any reader’s own medical condition qualifies as a “serious health condition” under the FMLA. It does not determine whether a specific reader’s hours, tenure, or worksite headcount actually satisfy the three eligibility tests described above in their individual case. It does not evaluate whether a specific employer’s denial of FMLA leave was lawful, and it makes no individual eligibility or coverage determination — those require case-specific legal analysis beyond the regulatory text alone. It also does not describe the substance of any particular state’s family or medical leave law, only that such laws can exist alongside the federal rule and are not preempted by it.