Do Holidays count toward the 12 weeks?

gimper · March 2003

When counting the 12 weeks or 480 hours, do Holidays count in that bank, or does the employee get those days as "extra" days?

POPEYE · March 2003

Sec 825.200 of the Federal Regs states:
"When determining the amount of FMLA leave taken, a holiday occurring within a week of FMLA leave has no effect--the week is still counted as a week of FMLA leave."
Hope this helps!

Don D · March 2003

I agree. And to answer the next question, we do pay them for the holiday even if they have exhausted pay status opportunities such as vacation, sick leave, PTO.

gimper · March 2003

Thank you!!

Don D · March 2003

My thinking is that paid holidays is 'a benefit to which the ee would have been entitled had it not been for the FMLA event', therefore it would be a violation of the Act to NOT pay it. But, then what about those companies whose policies require attendance prior to and after the holiday in order to get it? Don't know about that; but I imagine the normal company rule stands.

LindaS · March 2003

Our attendance policy dictates that an employee must be at work the last scheduled work day before and the first scheduled workday following the holiday to receive the pay. If an employee is out on FMLA leave one, or both, of those days they are still paid although there is one exception to this.

If an employee is out on STD, they do not receive the holiday pay but rather receive STD pay for that day. I think we should be paying the holiday pay for that day but what do you think? The rational I have received regarding this is that they have not worked at all that week so that is why they don't get the pay. Not sure how this would fly if there were a complaint.

Any suggestions?

dlail · May 2003

Our established leave of absence policy and the holiday policy both specify that ees on leave are not eligible for holiday pay. EE's are eligible for holiday pay if they work a full shift the day immediately before/after holiday or have scheduled vacation time or verified excused absence. It is illegal to not pay the holiday if the other policies have stated the stipulation to leave?

Rockie · March 2003

Don: We have it written into our leave policy that employees on extended leave do not accrue PTO nor are they paid for holidays while on this leave. We incorporated this as it appears to be a gray area in the law.

Don D · March 2003

It's my understanding that a person accrues no greater benefit from being on FMLA than he would otherwise have. Nor can we count FMLA absences against them in any rewards or attendance programs. But I don't know about how your stated policy might interface with the Act. Where's Mr. Miller from Missouri?

njjel · March 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-28-03 AT 08:25AM (CST)[/font][p]I also would appreciate further clarification on this issue. Currently we do not pay employees out on FMLA for a holiday unless they are using their accrued time for the leave. We have a "work day before and after" the holiday policy as well (unless you are on vacation) to be paid for the holiday.

Just went to the regulation and found this under 825.209 (h) - "An employee's entitlement to benefits other than group health benefits during a period of FMLA leave (e.g., holiday pay) is to be determined by the employer's established policy for providing such benefits when the employee is on other forms of leave (paid or unpaid, as appropriate)."

This clears it up for me.

POPEYE · March 2003

I think your last words "unless they are on vacation" would tell me that you should be paying Holidays for your EEs on FMLA. That would be a benefit that all would get so you may not deny that from someone on FMLA. Maybe one of our legal gurus will speak to this.

njjel · March 2003

No because under our regular unpaid leave time policy - if an employee is on unpaid leave, they are not entitled to accrue any time or to be paid for holidays.

cthr · May 2003

Our policy is to pay employees on FMLA for the holiday if they are currently using paid time such as vacation or sick. If the employee is collecting STD-they are paid by the carrier and not us for the day.

Do Holidays count toward the 12 weeks?

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