Do you qualify for FMLA leave?

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The three tests, in plain words

Covered employer. Private employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks this year or last. Public agencies and schools are covered regardless of size. Then, separately, there must be 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite, which is where small remote sites sometimes fall out.

12 months. Any 12 months of employment with that employer, not necessarily in a row. A seasonal worker on their third summer may already be past this.

1,250 hours. Hours actually worked in the 12 months right before the leave starts. PTO, holidays, and previous leave do not count. Full-time workers clear this easily; the ones who miss it are usually part-time at under 24 hours a week.

What FMLA gives you

Up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, with your group health coverage continued on the same terms. Military caregiver leave is up to 26 weeks. Leave can be taken all at once, or intermittently for many conditions. "Unpaid" is the key word: FMLA protects the job, it does not pay you. State paid-leave programs and short-term disability are what pay.

If you do not qualify

Check three other doors. State family leave laws (California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Colorado, Oregon, and more cover smaller employers or have lower hour thresholds). The ADA, which can require leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability at employers with 15 or more employees. And the employer's own policy, which often grants leave the law would not.