The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides workers with job-protected leave from work for certain family, medical, and military family leave reasons. This fact sheet explains when workers may use leave to support or care for a family member because of their military service.
Covered employers: Covered employers under the FMLA include:
The FMLA protects leave for:
For more information about the FMLA generally, see Fact Sheet #28.
An eligible employee may use up to 12 workweeks of FMLA leave for certain reasons, known as qualifying exigencies, when their spouse, child, or parent is on covered active duty or under an impending call to covered active duty.
Covered active duty means:
Deployment to a foreign country means deployment to areas outside of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any territory or possession of the United States. It also includes deployment to international waters.
Qualifying exigencies include, but are not limited to:
For more information about taking qualifying exigency leave under the FMLA, see Fact Sheet 28M(c).
An eligible employee who is the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a covered servicemember may use up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.
Covered servicemember means:
Current servicemember means:
For a current servicemember, a serious injury or illness is an injury or illness incurred by the servicemember in the line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces or that existed before the beginning of the member's active duty and was aggravated by service in the line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces, and that may cause the servicemember to be medically unfit to perform their military duties.
Veteran means:
For a veteran, a serious injury or illness is an injury or illness incurred in the line of duty when the veteran was on active duty in the Armed Forces, including any injury or illness that resulted from the aggravation of a preexisting condition in the line of duty on active duty. Additionally, the injury or illness must have made the veteran medically unfit to perform their military duties, or it must be an injury or illness that qualifies the veteran for certain benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs or substantially impairs the veteran’s ability to work.
For more information about taking FMLA leave as a caregiver for a military family member who is a current servicemember, see Fact Sheet #28M(a). For more information about taking military caregiver leave under the FMLA for a family member who is a recent veteran, see Fact Sheet #28M(b).
Download the “Employee’s Guide to Military Family Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act” in English or Spanish for a simple overview of how the FMLA may benefit military families, including:
Some States have their own family and medical leave laws. Nothing in the FMLA prevents employees from receiving protections under other laws. Workers have the right to benefit from all the laws that apply.
The FMLA is a federal worker protection law. Employers are prohibited from interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any FMLA right. Any violations of the FMLA or the FMLA regulations constitute interfering with, restraining, or denying the exercise of rights provided by the FMLA. For more information about prohibited employer retaliation under the FMLA, see Fact Sheet #77B and Field Assistance Bulletin 2022-2.
The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for administering and enforcing the FMLA for most employees. If you believe that your rights under the FMLA have been violated, you may file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division or file a private lawsuit against your employer in court. State employees may be subject to certain limitations in pursuit of direct lawsuits regarding leave for their own serious health conditions. Most Federal and certain congressional employees are also covered by the law but are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or Congress.
For additional information, visit our Wage and Hour Division Website: http://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd and/or call our toll-free information and helpline, available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone, 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243).
This publication is for general information and is not to be considered in the same light as official statements of position contained in the regulations.
The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.
