The HR Specialist

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Q. When determining the amount of leave an employee has used, do holidays count against the 12-week entitlement under the FMLA or the California Family Rights Act (CFRA)?

A. Under federal and state law, holidays that fall during a leave normally do not provide more time off. According to the FMLA regulations, “the fact that a holiday may occur within the week taken as FMLA leave has no effect; the week is counted as a week of FMLA leave.”

However, if for some reason the employer’s business activity has temporarily ceased and employees are not expected to report to work for one or more weeks (e.g., for maintenance shutdowns or seasonal closures), this time should not be counted against the employee’s leave entitlement. This is true even if the employee was on leave before the closure period began and after it ended.