Certified Leave Management Specialist (CLMS) Certification Practice Test

An employee who had a break in service for four years and returns to work for 11 months with 100 hours per month requests leave. What is their eligibility status?

1. The employee is eligible because of prior employment

2. The employee is not eligible because they do not have 12 months of service

3. The employee is eligible to take FMLA leave

4. The employee is not eligible because they do not have enough hours worked

The correct answer is: The employee is not eligible because they do not have enough hours worked

The assertion that the employee is not eligible because they do not have enough hours worked is accurate based on the criteria established under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). For an employee to qualify for FMLA leave, they must satisfy two primary requirements concerning their employment history: they must have at least 12 months of service with the employer and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave request. In this scenario, the employee has only returned for 11 months after a four-year hiatus. Even if the employee was previously eligible based on their prior service duration, the break in service resets their eligibility status. Therefore, the calculation of hours worked would only consider the 11 months of current service. Assuming the employee worked a full-time schedule (which is generally around 40 hours per week), they would need to total 1,250 hours over the 11 months to meet the eligibility requirement. If the employee doesn’t accumulate enough hours during this time frame, they would not qualify for FMLA leave. Thus, the central reason for the employee's ineligibility lies in the insufficient total hours worked, reinforcing the requirement that any employee seeking FMLA leave must meet both the duration of