Are Remote Workers Eligible for FMLA Leave?
A remote employee's home is not the FMLA worksite; eligibility usually uses the office the employee reports to or receives assignments from.
Are Remote Workers Eligible for FMLA Leave?
Remote workers can be eligible for federal FMLA leave. Working from home does not by itself create or remove FMLA rights. For the rule requiring 50 employees within 75 miles, a remote employee's personal residence is not the worksite. The analysis generally uses the employer location to which the employee reports or from which assignments are made, along with the other employer-coverage, service, hours, leave-reason, notice, and certification requirements.
Employer Coverage and Employee Eligibility Are Separate
A private employer is generally covered when it employs 50 or more employees for each working day in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Public agencies and public or private elementary and secondary schools are covered regardless of size. A particular worker must still satisfy the individual eligibility tests, including the 12-month, 1,250-hour, and 50-employees-within-75-miles requirements.
A Home Office Is Not the FMLA Worksite
Under 29 CFR 825.111, an employee's personal residence is not the FMLA worksite for an employee who works at home. That means the 75-mile test should not automatically draw a circle around the worker's house or apartment. The physical place where a remote employee opens a laptop may differ from the worksite used for federal eligibility.
Use the Reporting or Assignment Office
For an employee who works from home or otherwise has no fixed physical worksite, the worksite generally is the employer office to which the employee reports or from which assignments are made. Relevant facts can include the office identified in employment records, the management location that assigns work, where the employee reports, and whether those arrangements changed. A company label alone should be checked against the actual reporting and assignment structure.
Remote Employees Can Count With Their Assigned Worksite
Department of Labor Field Assistance Bulletin 2023-1 explains that the count within 75 miles includes employees whose worksite falls in that area, including employees who telework and report to or receive assignments from that worksite. Coworkers do not have to be sitting in the same office every day to count there. The question is each employee's FMLA worksite, not simply each person's home address.
The 75 Miles Run From the Employer Worksite
The regulation measures 75 miles from the facility where the employee is employed, using surface miles over the shortest route on public streets, roads, highways, and waterways. For a remote worker, the starting point follows the worksite rule rather than the residence. Preserve any written calculation because straight-line distance, commute distance from home, and surface distance from the assigned worksite are not interchangeable.
Twelve Months and 1,250 Hours Still Matter
A remote employee generally also must have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months and have at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12 months immediately before leave starts. The 12 months need not always be consecutive, subject to the regulation's break-in-service rules. Remote status does not waive these requirements.
Actual Remote Work Can Count Toward 1,250 Hours
For most employees, the hours-of-service test uses Fair Labor Standards Act principles for hours actually worked. Compensable remote work can therefore count, even though paid vacation or other leave generally is not actual work for this test. If the employer lacks accurate hours records, the regulation places the burden on the employer to show the employee did not meet the requirement. Keep time reports and correction requests that reflect work performed away from the office.
The Eligibility Tests Use Different Dates
The 12-month and 1,250-hour requirements are determined as of the date FMLA leave is to start. The 50-employees-within-75-miles requirement is determined when the employee gives notice of the need for leave. Once the employee is found eligible for that specific notice, a later drop in the worksite count does not end leave that has already begun or change eligibility for that notice.
An Eligibility Denial Should Identify a Reason
When an employee requests FMLA leave or the employer learns that leave may qualify, the employer generally must provide an eligibility notice within five business days, absent extenuating circumstances. If the worker is not eligible, the notice must state at least one reason, which may include the worksite employee count. Ask for the identified worksite and count when a denial rests on geography.
An Employer Cannot Manipulate Worksites to Avoid FMLA
The FMLA regulations prohibit interference with protected rights. They identify transferring employees between worksites to reduce a site below the 50-employee threshold as an example of unlawful manipulation. A good-faith remote assignment can have real eligibility consequences, but a paper reassignment made to avoid FMLA responsibilities raises a different question.
Other Leave and Accommodation Rights May Apply
A worker who does not meet federal FMLA coverage or eligibility may still have rights under a state or local leave law, an employer policy, a collective bargaining agreement, disability-accommodation law, pregnancy-accommodation law, paid-sick-leave rules, or another protection. Those laws can use different employer-size, geography, service, or hours tests. This page does not provide a state-by-state result.
Build a Remote-Worksite Eligibility File
Keep the remote-work agreement, offer letter, employer directory, assigned office, manager and team locations, reporting chart, work assignments, time records, pay statements, leave request, eligibility notice, employee-count explanation, and messages about any worksite change. Record the date of the leave notice and expected leave start. Preserve originals and only material you are entitled to retain.
When to Get a Free Consult
Get a free consult if FMLA was denied because no coworkers live near your home, remote colleagues assigned to the same office were excluded from the count, the employer used an unexplained worksite, recorded remote hours were omitted, or a leave request was followed by reassignment or retaliation. This article is general information, not legal advice; rights depend on employer coverage, service, hours, worksite, employee count, leave reason, notice, location, and applicable law.
Primary Sources
- U.S. Code: 29 USC 2611 FMLA Definitions and EligibilityAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.104 Covered EmployersAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.105 Counting EmployeesAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.110 Eligible EmployeeAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.111 Remote Worksite and 75-Mile RuleAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.220 FMLA Employee ProtectionsAccessed September 11, 2026
- eCFR: 29 CFR 825.300 Employer Notice RequirementsAccessed September 11, 2026
- DOL Field Assistance Bulletin 2023-1: Telework and FMLAAccessed September 11, 2026
- DOL Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave ActAccessed September 11, 2026
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