Intermittent leave is a type of leave pattern in which an employee does not take all their leave entitlement in one continuous block; instead, they take the leave for one reason but in sporadic or planned intervals. Mostly, employees can take intermittent leave for justifiable reasons like
a) personal convenience
b) childcare
c) dependent care
d) caring for a family member or relative who requires substantial care due to physical disability, illness, or other significant disability.
Intermittent leave is paid time off, so employees can take paid time off when they need it. However, they must inform their manager whenever they plan to take intermittent leave.
While intermittent leave can be taken at sporadic times whenever the employee has to take care of a medical issue, reduced schedule leave is when an employee’s work schedule is reduced. For example, an employee has to go to a doctor’s appointment every week on Thursday so that they can choose a reduced work schedule and only work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Employers with only 50+ employees can provide intermittent leave requests to their employees. Moreover, employees with over 1250 work hours over 12 months are eligible to make intermittent leave requests. Only the number of hours worked will be counted towards the 1250 threshold.
The following steps can compute intermittent leave:
1. Establish the Employee’s Average Work Hours:
Use the average of scheduled hours for employees who have routine schedules.
Otherwise, establish the average hours worked per week over the past 12 months as a baseline.
For example, if David works 8 hours five days a week, his average work hours are 40 hours/week.
2. Convert the 12-Week Entitlement to Hours:
For a regular full-time employee working 40 hours per week, the total entitlement would be 12 weeks x 40 hours = 480 hours. So, in this case, David is entitled to 480 hours of intermittent leave.
For part-timers, you need to calculate the hours accordingly. For example, an employee working 20 hours a week’s entitlement will be 12 weeks x 20 hours =240 hours.
3. Record Actual Time Used for Every Intermittent Leave Absence:
Even mark the number of hours it takes for every intermittent leave absence in the smallest increment used for any other form of leave where it does not exceed an hour. This way, you maintain uniformity.
In this case, if David needs to go to a doctor’s appointment for 2 hours every week, then his weekly leave usage is 2 hours/ week.
4. Deduct Used Intermittent Leave from Total Entitlement
Subtract the number of hours of intermittent leave applied for from the total entitlement remaining with the employee. For instance, David, who otherwise works 40 hours/week, applies for 2 hours of intermittent FMLA leave in one week. That employee has used up 2 hours out of 480 hours of leave.
5. Track Remaining Entitlement:
Carry out ongoing monitoring of the remaining entitlement and continue tracking intermittent absences until the entitlement under the 12-week scheme is fully exhausted or the designated leave year ends.
Thus, the steps outlined above will help employers manage and calculate intermittent leave efficaciously, in accordance with any legislation in place, and foster support for their workforce.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, FMLA entitles employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year to care for family or medical reasons, such as caring for a newborn child or a family member with a serious health condition.
Consecutive leave is when employees take a break over a continuous period during their regular work schedule.
Intermittent leave can be taken as PTO or paid time off. While many employers consider intermittent leave paid time off, a reduced work schedule isn’t paid because, in this case, employees work for reduced work hours/days.
Yes, employees are supposed to provide medical certificates to employers when they plan to take intermittent leave or reduced work schedules.
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