November 20, 2025
Don’t Let Your Holidays be Haunted by FMLA Faux Pas’
The holiday season is upon us. With it, questions about how to administer FMLA leave when the business is closed for a holiday.
Q: Does the day a business is closed count against the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement?
A: It depends!
A 2023 U.S. DOL Opinion letter explains the approach it has taken since the first publication of the FMLA regulations in 1995. “When a holiday falls during a week that an employee is taking a full workweek of FMLA leave, the entire week is counted as FMLA leave…However, when a holiday falls during a week when an employee is taking less than a full workweek of FMLA leave, the holiday is not counted as FMLA leave unless the employee was scheduled and expected to work on the holiday and used FMLA leave for that day.”
Why the difference? The FMLA regulations provide that when an employee is using intermittent or reduced schedule leave that “shall not result in a
reduction in the total amount of leave to which the employee is entitled . . . beyond the amount of leave actually taken.”
Prepare now. Ensure your payroll administrators are familiar with these rules and make the appropriate assignments.
