A deceptively small calculation that employers routinely get wrong — usually in the employee’s disfavor.
Holiday weeks create one of the most common FMLA miscalculations. The rule is not intuitive, and getting it wrong either shortchanges the employee’s entitlement or hands them leave they were not owed. Both create exposure.
The general rule
FMLA leave is measured against the employee’s normal workweek. How a holiday is counted depends entirely on whether the employee takes the full week off or only part of it.
- Full week of leave. When an employee is on FMLA leave for an entire week that contains a holiday, the whole week counts against the entitlement — holiday included. The holiday does not extend the leave balance.
- Partial week of leave. When an employee takes FMLA leave for less than a full week, the holiday does not count against the entitlement, unless the employee was actually scheduled and expected to work on that holiday.
The practical effect: an employee taking a full week around a holiday uses a full week of entitlement. An employee taking two days that week uses two days — not three.
Where employers get tripped up
Treating every holiday the same
Applying one blanket rule to both full-week and partial-week leave is the most frequent error. The distinction is the entire rule.
Plant shutdowns and seasonal closures
If the business closes for a week or more — a holiday shutdown, for example — those days generally do not count against the FMLA entitlement, because the employee would not have been working regardless.
Intermittent leave records
Intermittent leave tracked in hours rather than days compounds the problem. If your tracking is manual, holiday weeks are where the arithmetic quietly drifts.
What to do about it
- Document your 12-month measuring period method and apply it consistently.
- Record whether each week of leave was full or partial, not just the total days.
- Reconcile holiday weeks before they close out, rather than at the end of the leave.
- If intermittent leave is common in your workforce, evaluate whether outsourced administration is a better fit than internal tracking.
None of these calculations are difficult in isolation. They become a problem at volume, across states, and in the absence of a documented process — which is exactly the condition most growing employers are in.
This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax or benefits advice. Requirements vary by plan design, funding arrangement and jurisdiction. Contact BeneSkill to discuss how this applies to your plan.