Managing employee leaves of absence can often be a source of confusion for both employees and employers. This guide provides clear steps to follow, common challenges, and guidance on how to maintain effective communication and compliance throughout the process.
The type of leave will vary depending on the reason for the employee’s absence. Whether the leave is planned or unplanned – and even if the employee hasn’t formally requested time off – HR should assess each situation carefully using the criteria outlined below.
FMLA
Compliance
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Are you an FMLA-covered employer? A covered employer may be a private-sector employer, a public agency, or a school. A private-sector employer is covered by the FMLA if it employs 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or previous calendar year. The workweeks do not have to be consecutive.
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Is the employee needing leave eligible for FMLA? Employees are eligible if they work for a covered employer for at least 12 months, have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months before their FMLA leave starts, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
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If you are a covered employer, the employee is eligible for FMLA and has FMLA time available, you must follow the FMLA requirements. This means providing the required notices and a job-protected leave of absence.
Documentation
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FMLA forms with required information and instructions can be found here: FMLA: Forms. Ensure paperwork is provided and received in a timely manner. The employer has 5 business days to provide the required information once the need for leave is made known (supervisor knowledge counts!), and the employee generally has 15 calendar days to return the paperwork. When an employee makes diligent, good faith efforts but is still unable to meet the deadline for submission the employee is entitled to additional time to provide the certification.
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Employers should train anyone involved in receiving FMLA paperwork and designating leave as FMLA to ensure the forms are complete and sufficient. For example, does the request make sense? Is the need for continuous leave but the paperwork has a frequency and duration filled out? It’s much easier to ask these questions prior to approving the leave rather than question it later.
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Pro Tip: Do not accept a certification for intermittent leave without the frequency and duration filled out. The frequency and duration should also correspond to the employee’s absence. For example, 1 hour (frequency) for 1 day a week (duration).
Communication
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Catapult recommends providing the Eligibility Notice, form WH-381 at the same time as the Certification of Healthcare Provider for a Serious Health Condition (WH-380-E/F). This streamlines the process and helps comply with the required turnaround times. Notate on WH-381 that “leave approval is pending receipt of the Certification of Healthcare Provider.”
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If a certification is incomplete or insufficient, the employer must notify the employee in writing. Use Designation Notice, form WH-382 to inform the employee the certification is incomplete or insufficient and additional information is needed. The employee then gets at least 7 calendar days to fix the problem. The employer cannot contact the provider to clarify or authenticate the form until after the employee has been given a chance to provide the requested information.
ADA (Leave as an Accommodation)
Compliance
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If the leave of absence is not covered under FMLA, an employer might be obligated to explore leave as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC takes the stance that a leave of absence should be analyzed as a reasonable accommodation under ADA. See here: Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act (EEOC).
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Leave as an accommodation under ADA could apply in these common scenarios:
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an employer is covered by ADA but not FMLA due to their employee count,
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an employer is covered under FMLA, but has a worksite with non-eligible employees (i.e. not within a 75-mile radius of other employees), or
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an FMLA employee has exhausted FMLA and needs additional time off due to their own medical condition.
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Documentation
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An employer should follow their typical ADA process when it comes to determining if a leave of absence is a reasonable accommodation. As with all other accommodations, documentation is crucial. However, there are no ADA-required forms as there are under FMLA. Employers can request medical documentation or work with Catapult to create templates, such as our sample found here: ADA Medical Inquiry Form (to Healthcare Provider)
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Pro Tip: Do not use FMLA paperwork if the leave is not FMLA. While this is not a compliance issue, it can lead to employee relations issues. It causes confusion amongst the employer and the employee about the type of leave, as well as could create an issue if the employee were to be eligible for FMLA later on and his allotted FMLA time is calculated incorrectly.
Communication
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Employers should have a non-FMLA leave of absence policy which provides guidance for how medical leaves for an employee’s own medical condition are handled. This policy should include a key statement that, “While every effort will be made to hold your position during this leave of absence, there are no job reinstatement rights associated with this leave of absence.” Unlike with FMLA, holding a position unless it is an “undue hardship” is not required under ADA.
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Pro Tip: The EEOC takes particular interest in employer policies and practices that specify a set amount of time when providing leave as an accommodation. Instead, employers should make case–by–case determinations based on fact-specific information regarding each particular case of employee leave.
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The difference between FMLA and leave as an accommodation under ADA should also be clearly spelled out in a letter provided to the employee. Two types of letter templates can be found in Catapult’s ADA Toolkit.
Personal Leave
Compliance
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The last type of leave to consider is a personal leave of absence. A personal leave is generally going to be an employee relations issue rather than a compliance one. It could apply in these common scenarios:
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an FMLA-covered employer has an FMLA-eligible employee needing time off to care for a non-covered family member,
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an FMLA-covered employer has a non-FMLA eligible employee needing time off to take care of a covered family member, or
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an FMLA employee has exhausted FMLA and needs additional time off due to a medical condition of a covered family member.
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a non-FMLA covered employee needs time off for anything other than their own medical condition.
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Documentation
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Personal leave guidelines need to be included in a Personal Leave Policy. FMLA covered employers should have 3 total leave policies: 1) FMLA 2) Non-FMLA (ADA) 3) Personal. All other employers should have 2 different types of leave policies: 1) Non-FMLA (ADA / Employee’s own medical condition) and 2) Personal. All samples can be found in our NC & SC Employee Handbook Template and VA Employee Handbook Template.
Communication
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Having a Personal Leave Policy is part of an overall total rewards strategy. This can be a perk that is communicated as part of a benefits package. Some employers have policies that allow for weeks off after milestone anniversaries and others just have it to cover emergencies.
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Pro Tip: It’s better to have a Personal Leave Policy and never need it, versus need one and not have it.
Pay While on Leave
The above information refers to the actual leave of absence, NOT how someone receives pay while they are out of work. Examples of pay while on leave are company provided paid time off (e.g. PTO, sick or vacation time, workers’ compensation, short-term or long term disability, and/or state paid plans).
The graphics below illustrate examples of different types of leave running concurrently with different types of pay.
Paid Parental Leave
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Paid parental leave is a type of paid leave that requires its own special attention. If you offer paid parental leave, it should run concurrently with the relevant leave of absence, such as FMLA, ADA (PWFA), and/or personal leaves for both the birthing and non-birthing parent. If an employer would like to offer paid parental leave as a benefit (some states require pay for this type of leave and others), there are specific factors to take into account.
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In line with EEOC guidance, organizations should provide the same amount of bonding leave regardless of the parent’s gender. If an employer offers additional leave to new mothers beyond the childbirth recovery period –such as for bonding or caregiving – the equivalent amount of leave should be offered to non-birthing parents for the same purpose. See here for Catapult’s sample. The structure of this type of paid leave is critical. If substantial edits are made to the template, it’s recommended to submit your policy to the HR Advice team for review at advice@letscatapult.org.
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Benchmark data about parental leave can be found in Catapult’s 2025 Holiday and PTO Report.
Employees missing work can get complicated for a variety of reasons. Don’t tackle it alone. Connect with an HR Advisor to ensure compliance, consistency and best practices.