The Family and Medical Leave Act is a federal Act that has been in place since 1993 in order to allow employees to take time away from work if they need to care for their own medical conditions or the medical conditions of a covered relative. Whenever an employee needs to take leave from work for qualifying reasons, the employee should be able to take up to 12 weeks off of work for most qualifying conditions and up to 26 weeks off of work for Military Care-Giver coverage.

However, there are extenuating circumstances in which an employee may need to take leave from work for a condition that is not explicitly covered by the FMLA. In such a case, the employee may be covered by qualifying exigency allowances.

Definition of a Qualifying FMLA Exigency

The FMLA does not specifically define what a qualifying exigency is. Instead, each qualifying exigency condition is approached on a case-by-case basis. For example, a qualifying exigency may be applied if an employee needs to care for an elderly in-law when her husband is called to active military duty. While employees are generally not covered by the FMLA to care for in-laws, an exigency allowance may be made in such a case.

Employee FMLA Exigency Rights

When an employee is allowed to take FMLA leave for an FMLA exigency, the employee should be covered as if the condition were directly covered by the FMLA. This means that employees should be able to take up to 12 weeks off for most FMLA conditions and up to 26 weeks off for conditions related to military leave or service. The employee should be able to return to work at the end of the leave with the same job and benefits.

In order to be covered for FMLA leave, employees need to have worked for at least 1,250 hours out of the previous year.

Covered Employers

Employers that are covered by the FMLA are also covered during FMLA exigency conditions. Covered employers are those that have 50 or more employees that have worked for at least 20 hours out of the previous year.

Employer Rights

Employers should provide employees with the FMLA Qualifying Exigency form to complete. Employers may also request proof of the qualifying condition whenever an employee requests FMLA exigency leave.

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