Q&A with The Workplace Advisors – May 2025
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Question: We have 55 employees across multiple states, with some working remotely. However, we do not have 50 employees in one location. What are our FMLA obligations?
Answer: Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), any employer with 50 or more employees must notify their employees of their potential right to FMLA. This is done by posting the required notice and including an FMLA policy in your handbook. You would also need to process each employee going out on leave for FMLA, notifying them if they are eligible or not, within 5 days of learning of their need for leave.
One of the criteria to be eligible for FMLA is that the employee must work in a location with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. While reviewing their eligibility, you must calculate the number of employees within that radius of their workplace.
In the past couple of years, guidance has been issued that remote employees count toward the office they report to and receive their assignments from. For example, if an employee works 75 or more miles away from anyone else but reports to the company headquarters with 49 or more people, they would be eligible for FMLA (if they meet the other service and reason for leave criteria).
Your best course of action is to process everyone for FMLA in a timely manner once you have reached 50 total employees and account for their work location properly.
hello@TheWorkplaceAdvisors.com
www.TheWorkplaceAdvisors.com
877-660-6400
