Intermittent FMLA 2026: Rules, Tracking & Reduced-Schedule Leave
Intermittent FMLA · Federal Rule
Take your 12-week entitlement in separate blocks of time, or on a reduced schedule, when medically necessary — instead of all at once.
What Is Intermittent FMLA Leave?
Instead of taking your FMLA leave as one continuous block, intermittent leave lets you take it in separate periods — a few hours for a medical appointment, a day here and there for a flare-up, or an ongoing reduced-schedule arrangement where you work fewer hours per day or week. It still draws down the same overall entitlement as continuous leave; it's just spread out differently.
When Can You Take Leave Intermittently?
| Reason for leave | Intermittent allowed? |
|---|---|
| Your own serious health condition | Yes, when medically necessary |
| Caring for a family member's serious health condition | Yes, when medically necessary |
| Military qualifying exigency | Yes |
| Military caregiver leave | Yes, when medically necessary |
| Bonding with a new child (birth, adoption, foster placement) | Only if your employer agrees |
The bonding-leave rule surprises a lot of new parents: unlike medical leave, you don't have an automatic right to split up bonding leave into separate chunks. Your employer has to agree to it first.
How Employers Track Intermittent FMLA Hours
Employers must record your intermittent FMLA leave using the smallest increment of time they use to account for other forms of leave — capped at one hour. If your employer already tracks other absences in 15-minute increments, they can't round your FMLA leave up to a full hour or a full day.
Can Your Employer Temporarily Move Your Role?
If your intermittent or reduced-schedule leave is foreseeable — based on planned medical treatment, for example — your employer may temporarily transfer you to an alternative position with equivalent pay and benefits that better accommodates recurring absences than your regular job. When your leave ends, you're entitled to return to your original job or an equivalent one.
Notice and Recertification
For foreseeable intermittent leave (like a standing weekly medical appointment), you're expected to make a reasonable effort to schedule it so it doesn't unduly disrupt your employer's operations, subject to your health care provider's approval. Employers can also require periodic medical recertification to confirm your continued need for intermittent leave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Intermittent leave lets you take your FMLA entitlement in separate blocks of time — a few hours here, a day there — rather than all at once. A related option, reduced-schedule leave, lets you reduce your usual weekly or daily work hours for a period of time. Both count against the same overall entitlement as continuous leave.
You have a right to take intermittent leave when medically necessary for your own or a family member's serious health condition, or for a qualifying military exigency. Leave to bond with a healthy new child (birth, adoption, or foster placement) can only be taken intermittently if your employer agrees to it — you don't have an automatic right to take bonding leave in separate chunks.
Employers must track your leave using the smallest increment of time they use for other types of leave, capped at one hour. For example, if your employer normally tracks time off in 15-minute increments, they must do the same for your intermittent FMLA leave rather than rounding up to a full day.
Yes, but only under specific conditions. If your intermittent or reduced-schedule leave is foreseeable and based on planned medical treatment, your employer may temporarily transfer you to an alternative position with equivalent pay and benefits that better accommodates the recurring periods of leave than your regular job does.
Employers are allowed to require medical certification and periodic recertification to confirm continued need for intermittent leave, and can require you to follow reasonable call-in procedures. Patterns that don't match the certified medical need (for example, always calling in around weekends or holidays) can prompt an employer to request recertification.