Common FMLA Mistakes & How Certification Helps

1/30/2026

Administering the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can feel like navigating a minefield for many HR professionals. The law is complex, its regulations are dense, and a single misstep can lead to significant legal and financial consequences for an organization. While most employers strive for FMLA compliance, simple administrative errors and misunderstandings of the rules are incredibly common. These mistakes, though often unintentional, can result in government investigations, costly lawsuits, and damage to employee trust.

This post will explore the most frequent FMLA mistakes employers make and, more importantly, explain how formal FMLA certification provides HR professionals with the expertise to avoid them. We will break down specific errors, from failing to recognize a leave request to mishandling an employee's return to work. Understanding these common pitfalls is the first step toward building a more robust and compliant employee leave management process. By investing in proper training, you can transform a key area of risk into a demonstration of your organization's commitment to its employees and the law.

Mistake 1: Failing to Recognize an FMLA-Qualifying Event

One of the most fundamental and costly mistakes an employer can make is failing to identify a potential FMLA situation. Many managers and even some HR staff believe they only need to act when an employee explicitly uses the words "FMLA" or "Family and Medical Leave." This is incorrect. The law places the responsibility on the employer to recognize when an employee provides enough information to suggest their need for leave could be for an FMLA-qualifying reason.

An employee might say they need time off because their "son is having surgery," their "mother is very ill," or they are "dealing with a serious health issue." All of these statements should trigger the employer's FMLA process. Ignoring these cues or waiting for the employee to use specific magic words can lead to a claim of FMLA interference.

Real-World Scenario

An employee informs his supervisor that he will need to miss work periodically over the next few months to take his wife to chemotherapy appointments. The supervisor simply approves the absences as they occur, using the employee's available paid time off. The supervisor never informs HR, and the FMLA process is never initiated. Later, the employee needs a continuous block of leave and is terminated for exceeding the company's attendance policy, having already used his PTO.

This is a classic FMLA interference and retaliation claim waiting to happen. The employee provided sufficient information to signal a need for FMLA-qualifying leave—caring for a spouse with a serious health condition. The employer had an obligation to provide him with the required FMLA notices and begin the certification process.

How FMLA Certification Prevents This Mistake

AnFMLA training program drills this responsibility into every certified professional. The training emphasizes that the burden is on the employer to be inquisitive.

• Training on Trigger Phrases: Certification courses train HR professionals and managers to identify phrases and situations that require FMLA consideration. You learn to listen for keywords related to hospitalization, incapacity, chronic conditions, and care for family members.
• Proactive Procedures: A certified administrator knows how to implement a clear procedure for managers. This includes immediate notification to HR whenever an employee mentions a medical issue or family care need that could potentially be covered.
• Understanding Leave Reasons: The training provides a deep dive into the variouseligible types of FMLA leave. This includes not only an employee's own serious health condition but also caring for a spouse, child, or parent, as well as leave related to military service. This knowledge ensures you can categorize leave requests correctly from the start.

Mistake 2: Incorrectly Determining Eligibility

Not every employee is eligible for FMLA, and not every employer is required to provide it. However, making an error in this initial determination can lead to wrongly denying leave to an eligible employee or, conversely, providing protected leave to someone who doesn't qualify. Both scenarios create problems. Denying leave to an eligible employee is a direct violation of the law. Granting it to an ineligible one can set a difficult precedent and lead to operational challenges.

Eligibility requires a three-pronged test for the employee:

1. Have they worked for the employer for at least 12 months?
2. Have they worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave?
3. Do they work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius?

Mistakes often happen when calculating the 1,250 hours, especially for part-time or remote workers, or in determining if a company meets the 50-employee threshold.

Real-World Scenario

A company has 40 employees at its main office and 15 employees who work from home but report to that office. An employee who has been with the company for three years and works full-time requests leave for the birth of his child. The HR manager, believing the company only has 40 employees "at the worksite," tells the employee the company is not a covered employer and denies the FMLA request.

This is a clear violation. The FMLA regulations state that an employee's worksite for remote workers is the office to which they report. Therefore, the company has 55 employees at that worksite, making it a covered employer. The employee was wrongly denied job-protected leave. A certified professional would know how to properly assessif a firm is subject to FMLA.

How FMLA Certification Prevents This Mistake

FMLA certification provides exhaustive training on the nuances of employer coverage and employee eligibility.

• Mastering the Calculations: You learn exactly how to calculate the "1,250 hours of service," which does not include paid or unpaid time off. You also learn the specific rules for counting employees to meet the "50/75" threshold, including how to handle remote employees, temporary staff, and employees on leave.
• Timing of Eligibility Determination: Certification teaches you that eligibility must be determined as of the date the leave is set to begin. An employee who is not eligible today might become eligible in a few weeks once they cross the 12-month or 1,250-hour threshold.
• Clear Communication: A certified administrator knows how to communicate eligibility status correctly using the required FMLA forms. If an employee is not eligible, the employer must still provide a notice explaining at least one reason why they do not qualify.

Mistake 3: Mishandling Notice Requirements

The FMLA has very specific and time-sensitive notice requirements that employers must follow. There isn't just one notice; there is a series of them, and failing to provide the right information at the right time is a common compliance failure. These failures can impede an employee's ability to use their FMLA rights and can lead the Department of Labor to find an employer in violation.

The key notices include:

• General Notice: Must be posted in a conspicuous place and included in employee handbooks.
• Eligibility Notice: Must be provided to an employee within five business days of their leave request.
• Rights and Responsibilities Notice: Provided with the Eligibility Notice, it details the expectations and obligations of the employee.
• Designation Notice: Must be provided within five business days of receiving enough information (like a medical certification) to designate the leave as FMLA.

Real-World Scenario

An employee submits a medical certification for a continuous leave of four weeks. The HR department files the form but never sends the employee a formal Designation Notice confirming that the leave is being counted against their 12-week FMLA entitlement. Six months later, the same employee requests another eight weeks of leave for a different qualifying reason. The employer denies the request, stating the employee has already used four weeks and only has eight weeks remaining in the 12-month period.

The employer is at fault. Because they failed to provide the Designation Notice for the first leave, they may be prohibited from retroactively counting that time against the employee's FMLA allotment. The employee could argue they would have made different choices had they known their job-protected leave was being exhausted.

How FMLA Certification Prevents This Mistake

MasteringFMLA notice requirements is a core component of any FMLA certification program.

• Checklists and Timelines: Certification equips you with the knowledge to create procedural checklists that ensure every required notice is sent on time, every time. You learn the "five business day" rules inside and out.
• Content Mastery: You learn exactly what information must be included in each notice, such as the method used to calculate the 12-month leave year, whether the employee must substitute paid leave, and any requirements for fitness-for-duty certification upon return.
• Documentation: Certified professionals understand the critical importance of documenting that these notices were provided. This documentation becomes the employer's first line of defense in the event of a dispute.

Mistake 4: Botching the Management of Intermittent Leave

Intermittent FMLA leave is perhaps the single greatest challenge for employers. It allows an employee to take leave in separate, small blocks of time for a single qualifying reason. This can be for planned medical treatments or, more disruptively, for unpredictable flare-ups of a chronic condition. Employers often struggle with tracking this leave, managing attendance, and preventing abuse.

Common errors include using the wrong method to calculate used leave, disciplining employees for absences that should have been protected, or demanding recertification more frequently than the law allows.

Real-World Scenario

An employee is approved for intermittent leave for migraines. Her certification states she may need to miss one to two full days per month. Over the next two months, she calls out for a half-day one week and is two hours late on three other occasions, all due to her condition. Her manager, frustrated with the unpredictable absences, issues her a written warning for tardiness based on the company's no-fault attendance policy.

The manager has just committed an act of FMLA retaliation. The absences were due to a certified FMLA condition and should have been coded as protected leave, not counted as disciplinary infractions.

How FMLA Certification Prevents This Mistake

A high-quality FMLA certification course provides an entire module dedicated to the complexities of intermittent leave.

• Accurate Tracking: You learn the legal methods for tracking intermittent leave, including the requirement to use the smallest increment of time the company's payroll system uses to track other forms of leave (e.g., 15-minute increments). You learn how to convert hours into a fraction of a workweek to properly deplete the 12-week entitlement.
• Managing Call-In Procedures: Certification teaches you that you can require employees on intermittent leave to follow the company's normal call-in procedures for reporting an absence, as long as those rules don't interfere with their ability to take leave.
• Combating Abuse Compliantly: You learn the legal tools available to address suspected FMLA abuse. This includes the right to request recertification under specific circumstances and how to investigate patterns of absence (e.g., an employee who is consistently absent on Fridays) without violating the employee's rights.

Mistake 5: Failing to Properly Reinstate an Employee

At the end of their FMLA leave, an employee generally has the right to be reinstated to the same or an "equivalent" position. An equivalent position must have the same pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. It must also involve substantially similar duties and responsibilities. A common mistake is to place the returning employee in a role that is "equivalent" in name only.

Another frequent error occurs when an employer requires a fitness-for-duty certification before allowing the employee to return but does so in a discriminatory or inconsistent manner.

Real-World Scenario

A marketing manager returns from a 12-week FMLA leave for her own serious health condition. During her absence, her major accounts were reassigned. Upon her return, she is given the title of "Marketing Manager" and the same salary, but her new role involves only managing internal marketing projects with no client interaction and significantly less responsibility. The employer tells her this is an equivalent position.

This is a violation. While the pay and title are the same, the duties, responsibilities, and status are not "substantially similar." This could be considered a failure to reinstate and a form of retaliation for taking FMLA leave.

How FMLA Certification Prevents This Mistake

Certification training covers job restoration rights in detail, ensuring HR professionals understand the strict definition of an "equivalent position."

• Defining Equivalence: You learn to analyze a position based on a checklist of factors, including pay, benefits, work schedule, location, duties, and authority.
• Handling Fitness-for-Duty: The training covers the specific rules for when an employer can require afitness-for-duty certification. You learn that the requirement must be part of a uniformly applied policy and that you can only ask for certification regarding the specific condition that prompted the FMLA leave.
• Navigating ADA Overlap: A certified professional understands that if an employee returns with medical restrictions, the FMLA reinstatement right may be satisfied, but an employer's obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide a reasonable accommodation may be triggered.

The Power of FMLA Certification

Each of these common mistakes—and many others—can be avoided with the right knowledge. FMLA certification is the most effective way to equip HR professionals with that knowledge. It moves HR from a reactive, uncertain position to one of proactive, confident FMLA compliance.

By becoming a certified FMLA administrator, you not only protect your organization from significant legal risk but also ensure that your employee leave management process is fair, consistent, and effective. You become the subject matter expert capable of training managers, creating compliant policies, and confidently handling even the most complex leave scenarios. This expertise strengthens your organization's compliance posture and elevates your own value as a strategic HR professional. Don't wait for a costly mistake to reveal gaps in your FMLA knowledge.