Family and Medical Leave Act (29 U.S.C. 2601-2654)

US federal law entitling eligible employees to unpaid, job-protected leave for family and medical reasons. Applies to employers with 50 or more employees and their eligible workers.

10

Rules extracted

158

Obligations decomposed

15.8x

Avg obligations per rule

🇺🇸 United States

Jurisdiction

About this regulation

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage. Eligible employees are entitled to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for qualifying reasons including the birth of a child, adoption/foster placement, care of a family member with a serious health condition, or the employee's own serious health condition. Military family provisions provide up to 26 weeks for servicemember caregiver leave. Administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

What AuditDSS covers

Source

1

Regulation

Extracted

10

Rules

Decomposed

158

Obligations

15.8x

Decomposition ratio

Each rule is decomposed into an average of 15.8 atomic obligations — the smallest testable units that can be independently violated.

Fully extracted & scored

All 158 obligations have been decomposed, titled, risk-scored, and embedded for semantic matching.

Risk scoring

Every obligation in FMLA is scored across independent risk dimensions:

W

Obligation Weight

How critical within the regulatory framework

L

Violation Likelihood

How often breached in practice

E

Enforcement Evidence

Regulator enforcement history and penalties

C

Cascade Dependency

How many obligations depend on this one

Regulatory details

Full title
Family and Medical Leave Act (29 U.S.C. 2601-2654)
Regulatory body
U.S. Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Division
Jurisdiction
🇺🇸 United States
Document type
legislation
Effective date
August 5, 1993
Issuing authority
United States Congress
Official source
View source document ↗

Who this applies to

employers with 50+ employeeseligible employees (12 months/1250 hours)

Key requirements

  • 12 weeks unpaid leave
  • job restoration
  • health insurance continuation
  • medical certification
  • anti-retaliation
  • 26 weeks military caregiver leave

Frequently asked questions about FMLA

What is FMLA?

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage. Eligible employees are entitled to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for qualifying reasons including the birth of a child, adoption/foster placement, care of a family member with a serious health condition, or the employee's own serious health condition. Military family provisions provide up to 26 weeks for servicemember caregiver leave. Administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Who does FMLA apply to?

FMLA applies to employers with 50+ employees, eligible employees (12 months/1250 hours).

How many obligations does FMLA contain?

AuditDSS has decomposed FMLA into 158 atomic obligations from 10 rules. Each obligation is independently testable and risk-scored.

What are the key requirements of FMLA?

The key requirements include: 12 weeks unpaid leave, job restoration, health insurance continuation, medical certification, anti-retaliation, 26 weeks military caregiver leave.

How can I assess my FMLA compliance?

Upload your compliance policy to AuditDSS. The platform maps your document against all 158 FMLA obligations using deterministic AI scoring — not checklists or LLM summaries. You get a risk-scored gap analysis showing exactly which obligations are covered, partially covered, or missing.

Which jurisdiction enforces FMLA?

FMLA is enforced in United States by U.S. Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Division.

When did FMLA come into effect?

FMLA became effective on August 5, 1993.

What industry does FMLA apply to?

FMLA is primarily relevant to the Workplace Safety & WHS/OHS industry. AuditDSS covers 45 regulations in this industry sector.

Build a FMLA compliance pack

Don't have a compliance policy yet? AuditDSS generates a complete compliance pack for FMLA — alone or combined with other regulations your business needs. Every clause is mapped to specific obligations.

Policy

High-level commitments and governance framework covering FMLA requirements.

Procedures

Step-by-step operational procedures to implement each policy commitment.

Forms & checklists

Ready-to-use forms, registers, and checklists for day-to-day compliance operations.

Multi-regulation

Combine FMLA with other regulations into a single unified compliance pack for your business.

Already have a policy? Assess it against FMLA

1

Upload your document

Upload your compliance policy, program manual, or operational document. AuditDSS accepts any text-based document.

2

AI maps against 158 obligations

Your document is scored against every obligation in FMLA. Each claim is mapped to the obligation tree and evaluated for coverage.

3

Risk-scored gap report

Receive every gap ranked by risk priority with remediation guidance, enforcement evidence, and cascade impact analysis.

Related regulations in Workplace Safety & WHS/OHS

Assess your FMLA compliance

Upload your document and get a risk-scored gap analysis against 158 FMLA obligations in under 5 minutes.