FMLA eligibility: Do ‘bonus hours’ count toward the 1,250?
June 23, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: FLSA, FMLA, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Sometimes, figuring out FMLA eligibility is pretty cut-and-dry. But that doesn’t mean employers and employees never disagree on who can take leave. Here’s one example of a dispute about what hours should be included.
An employee sued her employer after she was denied FMLA leave because she failed to meet the 1,250-hour requirement.
She claimed she worked more than enough hours. Her calculation included “bonus hours” she was paid for working weekend shifts. For example, if she picked up a Saturday shift, the company gave her 10 extra hours of pay for that week.
The court didn’t buy it. The judge said the “hours worked” only includes time an employee is “required to give” an employer. Extra pay, even if it’s measured in hours, doesn’t make a difference.
What counts?
The FMLA’s 1,250-hour requirement only includes time that counts as “hours worked” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) — in other words, only hours in which work is done, that must be paid for and that count toward overtime calculations.
So, for example, the 1,250 hours would not include:
- paid or unpaid vacation and sick time
- paid holidays, or
- previous periods of FMLA leave.
Cite: Mutchler v. Dunlap Memorial Hosp.
Tags: eligible, FLSA, FMLA, hours worked
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
[...] FMLA eligibility: Do ‘bonus hours’ count toward the 1250? By Sam Narisi Sometimes, figuring out FMLA eligibility is pretty cut and dry. But that doesn’t mean employers and employees never disagree on who gets to take leave. Here’s one example of a dispute about what hours should be included. … [...]
June 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Hours worked is getting to be a very contradictory statement. It seems that different entities (or branches of) have different interpretations of what this means. Why can’t hours worked actually mean productive work (such as this explains). The IRS has a different meaning. For Example: our 401(k) plan requires that we use hours worked for hours of service to compute vesting percentages. That includes any PTO used as well as holidays. Can someone please explain why hours worked cannot mean hours actually worked?
June 25th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
We are closed two weeks for inventory. Is that considered hours towards FMLA? I was told it was.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Regarding hours counted towards FMLA, would it be fair to say that a paid meal break is considered is non work hours and therefore should not be included in figuring outrr eligibilitry for FMLA. An hour meal break daily, or half an hour comes up to 250 hours or 125 hours per year.
Just thinking a little outside the box.