FMLA, not ADA, covers leave for medical appointments

Q           We have an employee who’s asking to leave work early and use the last hour of her normal schedule to pick up her son and accompany him to therapy sessions that will take place two days per week for 12 weeks. Would this time off be covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?

The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability—including discrimination against employees with associational disabilities—but the FMLA will likely govern in this scenario because it requires covered employers to provide employees with unpaid, job-protected leave for qualified family and medical reasons. To be granted leave in this case, the employee must meet eligibility criteria, and her son’s condition for which therapy sessions are needed must be a “serious health condition” as defined by the FMLA.

FMLA leave eligibility requires an employee to have worked for a covered employer at least 12 months. FMLA-covered employers include public agencies, public and private elementary and secondary schools, and private employers with 50 or more employees who worked in 20 or more workweeks in either the current or previous calendar year. The employer must have at least 50 employees working within 75 miles. The employee must also have worked 1,250 hours for the employer in the 12 months before their FMLA leave commences.