When do the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provisions apply to a city or county?
The answer to this is somewhat confusing. On the one hand, all public agencies are covered by the FMLA, regardless of the number of employees. However, for an employee of a public agency to have FMLA rights, the employer must employ at least 50 employees at the worksite or within 75 miles of it. So, the bottom line is that if a city does not employ at least 50 employees, then the employees are not entitled to FMLA rights. Note that a federal appeals court has ruled that employers do not have the luxury of asserting this defense at any time in the course of litigation. Rather, they must make the claim either before the trial begins or during the trial. If they do not, they will be deemed to waive the defense. See Minard v. ITC Deltacom Communications Inc., No. 04-30230 (5th Cir., 4/18/2006). • Who has the authority to designate leave as FMLA leave – the employer or the employee? The situation addressed by this question is where the employee takes leave as something other than FMLA leave
