Top FMLA Mistakes Employers Make - And How to Avoid Them

1/28/2028

Managing employee leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is one of the most complex responsibilities for any HR professional. The law is filled with detailed requirements, strict deadlines, and overlapping obligations with other regulations like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A simple oversight can lead to costly lawsuits, government penalties, and damaged employee trust. The most effective way to navigate this landscape is with robust FMLA compliance training that equips your team to handle these situations correctly and consistently.

This guide details the most common FMLA mistakes employers make and provides actionable advice on how to avoid them. We will explore everything from eligibility errors to job restoration failures, showing how proactive training and solid internal processes can protect your organization and support your employees.

Why FMLA Compliance Training Matters More Than Ever

FMLA administration is not just a paperwork exercise; it is a critical function that demonstrates an employer's commitment to legal and ethical standards. With remote work arrangements, evolving employee health needs, and increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies, the importance of FMLA compliance training has grown significantly. Proper training ensures that everyone involved, from HR managers to frontline supervisors, understands their roles and responsibilities.

The Cost of Noncompliance for Employers

Ignoring the complexities of the FMLA is a high-stakes gamble. The financial and operational risks of noncompliance are substantial. Lawsuits from employees who believe their rights were violated can lead to significant damages, including back pay, front pay, liquidated damages (which can double the monetary award), and attorney's fees. Beyond litigation, the Department of Labor (DOL) can impose civil money penalties for willful violations.

Perhaps just as damaging is the impact on employee relations. When employees feel their requests for leave are mishandled or their jobs are threatened, it erodes morale, trust, and engagement. The negative effects on company culture and employee retention can linger long after a legal case is closed.

How Compliance Training Prevents Common FMLA Errors

Effective FMLA compliance training is the foundation of a sound leave management strategy. It builds consistency across your entire organization, ensuring that every leave request is handled according to the same compliant procedures. When HR teams and managers are trained, they can confidently make decisions, answer employee questions accurately, and document every step of the process. This creates a defensible record and minimizes the risk of inconsistent application of your policies. 

The Most Common FMLA Mistakes Employers Make

Navigating FMLA employer compliance requires attention to detail. Below are nine of the most common FMLA mistakes and how your organization can prevent them through better processes and training.

1. Inaccurate Eligibility Determination

One of the first and most critical steps in the FMLA process is determining if an employee is eligible for leave. Errors at this stage can invalidate the entire process. An employee is eligible if they have:

• Worked for the employer for at least 12 months.
• Worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave.
• Work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

Common Errors:

• Not verifying hours worked or service time: Some employers assume an employee is eligible without pulling payroll records to confirm the 1,250-hour requirement. This is especially risky for part-time or variable-hour employees.
• Misclassifying employee status: Confusing the 12 months of service with continuous employment. The 12 months do not need to be consecutive.
• Forgetting the "50/75" rule: Employers with multiple locations may incorrectly grant FMLA to an employee at a small, remote site.

How training helps: FMLA compliance training for HR professionals drills down on these specific criteria. It teaches HR teams to establish a clear HR compliance process for every request. This includes a checklist to pull service-date records from the HRIS, run payroll reports for hours worked, and confirm the employee count at their worksite. This systematic approach ensures eligibility is determined correctly from the start.

2. Failure to Provide Required Notices

The FMLA has strict notice requirements that employers must follow. Failing to provide these notices on time—or at all—is a frequent and easily avoidable violation.

The Key Notices:

• General Notice: Must be posted in a conspicuous place and included in employee handbooks.
• Eligibility Notice: Must be provided to the employee within five business days of their leave request. It informs them whether they are eligible for FMLA.
• Rights and Responsibilities Notice: Provided with the Eligibility Notice, it outlines the employee’s obligations and the employer’s policies.
• Designation Notice: Must be provided within five business days of receiving enough information to determine the leave is FMLA-qualifying. It officially designates the leave as FMLA and informs the employee how it will be counted.

Common Errors:

• Missing the initial rights notice or eligibility notice: Simply telling an employee "okay" when they request leave is not enough. The formal notices are mandatory.
• Incorrect or late designation notice: Delaying the designation can prevent the employer from counting the absence against the employee’s 12-week entitlement. If the notice is unclear about whether leave is FMLA-protected, it can cause confusion and legal risk.

Consulting the FMLA Best Practices page can provide sample notice timelines and templates to ensure your communications are compliant. Training reinforces these deadlines, making timely notification a standard part of your workflow.

3. Poor Leave Tracking and Recordkeeping

Accurate tracking is the backbone of FMLA administration. Without a reliable FMLA leave management system, employers risk miscalculating leave entitlement, leading to disputes over how much time an employee has left.

Common Errors:

• Not tracking rolling 12-month periods correctly: The "rolling backward" method is the most common for calculating the 12-month period, but it is also the most complex to administer. Manual tracking on spreadsheets often leads to errors.
• Lack of consistent recordkeeping across departments: If a supervisor tracks an absence on a personal calendar but fails to report it to HR, that time may not be counted, leading to an employee taking more than their allotted 12 weeks.
• Failing to specify the calculation method: Employers must use a consistent method (calendar year, fixed 12-month period, or rolling 12-month period) and apply it uniformly to all employees.

Using a centralized HR documentation compliance system or dedicated FMLA tracking software is essential. This ensures that every hour of leave—whether continuous or intermittent—is logged against the employee's balance in real-time. This is a core topic in any HR FMLA compliance guide.

4. Mishandling Medical Certification and Recertification

Medical certification is the employer’s tool for verifying that a leave request is due to a qualifying serious health condition. However, there are strict rules governing how you can request and handle this sensitive information.

Common Errors:

• Accepting incomplete forms or not following up: If a certification is vague or incomplete, the employer has the right to request clarification. Many employers either accept insufficient forms or improperly deny leave without giving the employee a chance to fix the deficiency.
• Overstepping privacy boundaries under FMLA/ADA: A manager should never directly contact an employee’s healthcare provider. HR can contact the provider for clarification or authentication, but only with the employee's permission.
• Requesting recertification too often: For ongoing conditions, you generally cannot request recertification more than every 30 days unless the circumstances have changed significantly or you have reason to doubt the validity of the absence.

FMLA compliance training teaches HR staff how to review medical certifications for completeness, what questions they are allowed to ask, and the proper procedure for requesting more information. It also covers when to request recertification, helping prevent FMLA abuse without violating employee rights.

5. Mismanaging Intermittent Leave

Intermittent FMLA leave allows employees to take time off in separate blocks for a single qualifying reason. While necessary, it is one of the most challenging aspects of FMLA administration for employers.

Common Errors:

• Failing to account for intermittent time correctly: Employers must track intermittent leave using the smallest increment their payroll system uses (e.g., 15 minutes), as long as it is not more than one hour. Approximating or rounding up can cause an employee to exhaust their leave entitlement prematurely.
• Ignoring the impact on scheduling and productivity: Unscheduled intermittent absences can be disruptive. However, employers cannot penalize an employee for using approved intermittent leave.
• Not addressing patterns of absence: If an employee’s intermittent absences consistently fall on Mondays and Fridays, it could be a red flag. However, employers must investigate carefully without making accusations.

Training managers to handle intermittent leave is crucial. They need to understand how to document absences, communicate with HR, and address potential patterns of misuse without taking disciplinary action that could be seen as retaliatory. Effective intermittent FMLA leave management is a sign of a well-run HR department.

6. Failure to Properly Count FMLA Leave

An employer cannot count leave against an employee’s 12-week entitlement unless they have properly notified the employee that the absence is designated as FMLA leave.

Common Errors:

• Retroactive designation: Employers sometimes try to designate leave as FMLA weeks or even months after it has occurred. The DOL has strict rules limiting retroactive designation, generally only allowing it if the employer failed to designate in a timely manner and the employee was not harmed by the delay.
• Common miscalculations when combining continuous and intermittent leave: Forgetting to convert days to hours for intermittent leave tracking can lead to FMLA calculation errors. An employee is entitled to 12 workweeks, which for a full-time employee is 480 hours (12 weeks x 40 hours/week).
• Misunderstanding holiday pay: If a holiday falls during a full week of FMLA leave, the entire week counts as FMLA leave. If the employee is using intermittent leave, holidays generally do not count unless the employee was scheduled to work.

Ensuring compliance with the 12-week limit requires meticulous tracking and clear communication. The Designation Notice is your official record that the FMLA clock has started.

7. Not Providing Job Restoration or an Equivalent Role

At the end of their FMLA leave, an employee generally has the right to be restored to their original job or an "equivalent" one. An equivalent position must have the same pay, benefits, shift, location, and substantially similar duties and responsibilities.

Common Errors:

• Placing employees in different or lesser roles: Moving an employee from a day shift to a night shift, or from a private office to a cubicle, may not meet the equivalency standard. A demotion in title or a significant change in duties is a clear violation.
• Overlooking equivalent pay, benefits, or working conditions: The job must be truly equivalent in all aspects of employment, not just the base salary.
• Eliminating the employee’s job during leave: An employee on FMLA leave is not protected from a legitimate layoff, but the employer must be able to prove that the employee would have been laid off even if they had not taken leave.

Proper documentation is key to proving compliance. If the original job is no longer available, you must be prepared to demonstrate how the new position meets the FMLA's strict definition of "equivalent."

8. Mishandling Return-to-Work and ADA Accommodations

The end of FMLA leave is not always the end of an employer's obligations. If an employee is not able to return to their full duties, the ADA may require the employer to provide a reasonable accommodation.

Common Errors:

• Not engaging in the ADA interactive process: If an employee returns with medical restrictions, the employer has a duty to discuss possible accommodations. A "100% healed" or "no restrictions" policy is illegal under the ADA.
• Failing to offer reasonable accommodations: This could include modified duties, a part-time schedule, or even additional unpaid leave beyond the 12 weeks of FMLA.
• Confusing FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation: These three laws often overlap, creating a complex web of rights and obligations. For example, an employee on FMLA may refuse a light-duty job offer under Workers' Comp, but that same offer might be considered a reasonable accommodation under the ADA once FMLA is exhausted.

Understanding the interplay between these laws is critical. A detailed review of the Coordination of FMLA, ADA & Workers’ Compensation lessons can provide clarity on managing these overlapping situations.

9. Ignoring or Mishandling FMLA Abuse

While most FMLA requests are legitimate, employers sometimes encounter situations where they suspect FMLA abuse. Addressing this requires a delicate balance between enforcing policies and avoiding retaliation.

Common Errors:

• Acting on suspicion alone: Making assumptions or disciplining an employee based on rumors or a manager's hunch can lead to a retaliation claim.
• Investigating without violating employee rights: Hiring a private investigator or surveilling an employee’s social media may be permissible in some cases, but it is fraught with legal risk and should only be done with guidance from legal counsel.
• Failing to use the tools available: Employers can require medical recertification or a second opinion if they have a good-faith basis to doubt the validity of the leave.

The best way to handle FMLA misuse is to have a clear, documented process. This includes training managers to spot red flags (like a pattern of Monday/Friday absences for an intermittent condition) and report them to HR. HR can then follow a standardized, non-discriminatory procedure to investigate.

How FMLA Compliance Training Helps Prevent These Mistakes

A comprehensive FMLA training program is the single most effective tool for preventing these common but costly errors. It moves an organization from a reactive, case-by-case approach to a proactive, systematic one.

Training Supervisors and HR Staff on FMLA Procedures

Supervisors are often the first to hear about an employee's need for leave. FMLA training requirements for supervisors should cover how to recognize a potential FMLA situation and escalate it to HR immediately. For HR staff, training goes deeper, covering eligibility, notices, tracking, and legal updates.

Creating Standardized Leave Policies and Communication Templates

Training helps organizations develop and implement standardized tools. This includes creating clear leave policies, using official DOL forms or customized templates for all notices, and developing scripts for managers to use when discussing leave. Consistency is a cornerstone of compliance.

Reinforcing Documentation and Audit Practices

Good training emphasizes that if it isn't documented, it didn't happen. Every conversation, notice, and decision should be recorded in a central, confidential file. Regular self-audits of FMLA files can help identify and correct gaps in your process before they become legal liabilities. Referring to an FMLA Best Practices page can help establish these audit procedures.

Best Practices to Strengthen FMLA Compliance

Beyond avoiding mistakes, employers should strive for excellence in FMLA administration. Adopting these best practices will build a stronger, more compliant program.

• Consistent Documentation and Communication:
• Use a FMLA compliance checklist for HR for every leave request to ensure no step is missed.
• Document all conversations with employees about their leave.
• Send all required notices via a method with delivery confirmation.
• Clear, Updated FMLA Policies:
• Review and update your employee handbook annually to reflect any changes in FMLA regulations.
• Clearly define your 12-month calculation method in your policy.
• Ensure your policies on call-in procedures for absences are clear and consistently enforced.
• Annual FMLA Compliance Training Refreshers:
• Regulations and court interpretations change. Annual refreshers keep HR and managers current.
• Use case studies of common FMLA compliance mistakes to make the training practical and engaging.

Key Takeaways for Employers

Managing FMLA leave is a detailed and demanding task, but it is not impossible. With the right focus and resources, employers can build a compliant program that supports employees and protects the organization.

Train, Track, and Communicate Consistently

These three pillars are the foundation of successful FMLA administration. Train everyone involved, track every hour of leave accurately, and communicate clearly and promptly with employees throughout the process.

Documentation Is Your Strongest Defense

In an FMLA dispute, the employer with the most thorough and accurate records is in the strongest position. Meticulous documentation demonstrates good faith and adherence to legal requirements.

FMLA Compliance Training Protects Employees and Employers Alike

Ultimately, FMLA compliance is not about avoiding lawsuits—it's about doing the right thing. It ensures that employees can take the time they are legally entitled to without fearing for their jobs. In turn, it protects the employer from legal and financial risk, creating a more stable and respectful workplace.