Family Leave and Medical Act

public agencies, including state, local and federal employers, local education agencies (schools), and

private-sector employers who employed 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year and who are engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce including joint employers and successors of covered employers ("DOL FLMA Fact Sheet").

There are some qualifications that must be met for an employee to be eligible for FMLA benefits. First of all, the employee must work for an employer that is covered under FLMA, must have worked for that employer for a total of 12 months, and must have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months; the employee must also work at a location in the United States or in some territory or possession of the United States where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles ("DOL FLMA Fact Sheet").

Under FLMA, a covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period where the employee meets one or more of the following conditions:

The birth of the employee's newborn child

The placement of a child with the employe