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Taking time off work can be confusing. Answer a few simple questions, and we'll show you the leave you may qualify for under federal and state law.
Taking time off work can be confusing. Answer a few simple questions, and we'll show you the leave you may qualify for under federal and state law.
Pick any that apply to you. You can choose more than one, and we’ll use this to show what you qualify for.
Some states also cover siblings, grandparents, or chosen family.
Your own military service is covered separately. See your results.
Covers medical care, counseling, legal help, or safety planning.
Your eligibility is based on your first day of leave, not today. If you know the date, like a scheduled surgery or a due date, enter it here. Not sure yet? Leave it blank to see where you stand today.
Your best estimate is fine. You can always run this again if the date moves.
📅 Why the date matters
Choose the state where you actually do your work. Your leave rights come from that state, not from where your company’s headquarters are.
If you’re full-time and have been here at least a year, you almost certainly meet the hours requirement. Your pay stubs or employee portal show your exact hours if you need them.
Enter how many hours you typically work per week and we'll estimate your total over the past 12 months, using the start date above.
Filled in automatically by the hours estimator above, or you can enter your total hours manually.
Count the coworkers at your location, plus any company sites within 75 miles, not the whole company nationwide. For most people, that’s just your total number of coworkers. Not sure? Your company’s LinkedIn page can help.
Why headcount matters
Based on your answers, you may be eligible for the protections shown here. Download your personalized assessment below.
You can take leave continuously, intermittently, or on a reduced schedule; the Leavely app (coming soon) will help you plan the exact timing.
Based on your state, tenure, hours, and employer size. Some states split "getting paid" and "your job is protected" into separate rules. Where that's true, you'll see more than one result below.
Not part of the FMLA or state-leave rules above, but they may still cover you. Some are specific to your state, some fall under broader federal law.
These aren't calculated from your answers, but they may still apply based on your own situation, and many people qualify without realizing it. USERRA (your own military service), the ADA (leave as a disability accommodation), the PWFA (pregnancy accommodations), and the PUMP Act (nursing breaks) each work differently from FMLA. Read the full details →
Give notice early and book your appointment. Tell your employer as soon as you know. For planned leave, 30 days' notice is the standard. After you give notice your employer has 5 business days to hand you the paperwork, and you get at least 15 calendar days to return it. Booking early leaves room if your provider needs to be contacted.
Official Policy Links
Leavely helps people understand their eligibility for both paid leave and job protection, covering Federal FMLA, state leave programs, and other federal protections like military leave and disability accommodations, without raising a red flag to HR or wading through legal jargon and guesswork. Behind the scenes, Leavely runs a detailed calculation engine, reviewed for accuracy by a team of Certified Leave Management Specialists (CLMS). Leavely is free to use whether or not you donate, but if it helped you get some clarity, your support goes toward hosting costs, new features, and keeping eligibility requirements accurate as laws change across all 50 states.
Leavely is a free eligibility assessment and leave planner that checks whether you qualify for job-protected medical or family leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and under your state's paid family and medical leave program. It shows whether you qualify, how your job is protected, and how much leave you can take. It covers all 50 states, needs no account, and does not store what you enter.
Federal FMLA has three requirements, all measured as of your first day of leave rather than the day you check:
Only hours actually worked count toward the 1,250-hour test. Paid time off, holidays and sick days do not. For salaried employees whose employer keeps no hour records, the presumption generally runs in the employee's favor.
Eligible employees get up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, or up to 26 weeks to care for a covered servicemember. Your employer must maintain your group health benefits while you are out.
FMLA itself is unpaid. Some states run separate paid family and medical leave programs that replace part of your wages. Getting paid and having your job protected are different things, and you can qualify for one without the other.
Thirteen states plus the District of Columbia currently pay benefits: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington. Virginia has enacted a program with benefits beginning in 2028.
State eligibility rules differ from FMLA and from each other. Most measure wages earned over a base period rather than hours worked, and many apply to far smaller employers than the 50-employee federal threshold. Illinois takes a different approach again, with paid leave accruing by hours worked.
Where the need for leave is foreseeable, giving about 30 days notice where practicable is recommended best practice (not a strict legal deadline). If it is not foreseeable, give notice as soon as you reasonably can.
Once you give notice, your employer generally has 5 business days to provide the certification paperwork, and you generally get at least 15 calendar days to return the completed medical certification.
Other protections may still apply, and many people qualify for one without realizing it:
Short-term disability is a benefit some employers offer, or that you can buy, that replaces part of your paycheck while a medical issue keeps you from working, such as recovering from surgery or childbirth. Two simple things to remember:
So in a typical medical leave, FMLA (and any state leave) protects your job while short-term disability replaces part of your income for that same stretch. Check your plan documents or ask HR for your STD's waiting period, how long it pays, and what percentage of your pay it covers.
Intermittent leave, or taking your time off on and off, means using your entitlement in separate stretches or single days rather than all at once, for example for recurring treatment or flare-ups of a chronic condition. It is counted against the same 12-week entitlement, and it is where employees most often lose track of how much they have left.
Beyond federal FMLA, a growing number of states run their own paid family and medical leave programs, each with its own eligibility rules, benefit length, and job-protection provisions. Leavely assesses your eligibility for the program in your state:
New here? Start with how to take a leave of absence, check FMLA eligibility, or see paid family leave by state.
If your state does not yet have a paid program, Leavely still assesses your federal FMLA eligibility and any state job-protection laws that may apply to your situation.
A Leavely app for iPhone and Android is on the way: a private, on-device way to plan and track your leave, starting with a 7-day free trial. The eligibility check here will always be free. Check back for the launch.
Leavely provides general information, not legal advice. Eligibility is determined by your employer, applicable federal and state law, and any required medical certification.