Does time working for a company as a temporary employee count toward the FMLA 12-month and 1,250-hour eligibility requirements?

Yes, time spent working for the organization as a temporary employee counts toward the FMLA 12-month and 1,250 hours eligibility requirements, regardless of whether the employment arrangement involves a professional staffing firm or leasing agency or if the temporary employee is directly employed and is on an employer’s payroll. The tim​​e worked need not be consecutive, but any break in service lasting seven years or longer does not count toward the 12-month eligibility requirement.

FMLA regulation 825.106, FMLA regwhich pertains to joint employment, applies. The regulation in paragraph (b)(1) states: “A determination of whether or not a joint employment relationship exists is not determined by the application of any single criterion, but rather the entire relationship is to be viewed in its totality. For example, joint employment will ordinarily be found to exist when a temporary placement agency supplies employees to a second employer.”

In addition to counting the time a temporary employee works toward meeting the FMLA 12-month and 1,250-hour eligibility requirements, an employer needs to include temporary employees when determining whether the company employs 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of the worksite.