Opinion ID: 774361
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Calculating FMLA Leave Eligibility

Text: 38 Construing the statutory language and the Department of Labor's regulations, the district court held that Bachelder's February 1996 absences were not protected by the FMLA. We conclude that the district court's understanding of the statutory and regulatory scheme was erroneous. 39 The leave year regulation, 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.200, allows employers, at their option, to calculate the twelve-month period in which an employee is limited to twelve weeks of protected leave by one of four methods. Under the two fixed-year methods, the employee could use up to twelve weeks of leave at any time during the twelve-month period selected by the employer. 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.200(c). 12 For example, an employee whose employer had adopted the calendar year method could, consistently with the Act, take 12 weeks of leave at the end of the year and 12 weeks at the beginning of the following year. Id. On January 1, this employee would be entitled to a full bank of FMLA-protected leave, no matter how recently, or how much, she had exercised her entitlement to protected leave the previous year. 40 Under the rolling method, each time an employee takes FMLA leave the remaining leave entitlement would be any balance of the 12 weeks which has not been used during the immediately preceding 12 months. Id. Thus, if an employee used her full allotment of twelve weeks of FMLA leave starting on February 1, she would be entitled to no additional days of FMLA leave until February 1 of the following year. 41 The FMLA leave year regulation, while allowing employers flexibility in deciding how to comply with the Act, also includes various safeguards for employees. First, the employer must apply its chosen calculating method consistently to all employees. 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.200(d)(1). Second, if the employer has failed to select a calculating method, the regulations state that the method that provides the most beneficial outcome for the employee will be used. 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.200(e). By preventing employers from calculating FMLA leave eligibility in their own favor on an ad hoc, employee-by-employee basis, the leave year regulation encourages the employer to choose its calculating method prospectively. By doing so, the regulation not only prevents unfairness to employees through retroactive manipulation of the leave year, but also encourages a system under which both employees and employers can plan for future leaves in an orderly fashion. 13