FMLA has two separate gates. The employer must be covered, and then the employee must be eligible. Both use a 50, but they are different 50s.
Employer coverage
A private-sector employer is covered if it employs 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year.
That is a company-level test. It is not the worksite test, and it is not 100 employees.
Employee eligibility: all three must be met
- At least 12 months of employment with the employer.
- At least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the start of leave.
- Employment at a worksite where the employer employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
Do not reverse 50 employees and 75 miles. The hours test is 1,250, not full-year full-time hours, and there is no full-time requirement - a part-time employee who reaches 1,250 hours is eligible.
Work the shortfall the way the explanation does. An employee with 14 months of service and 1,100 hours at a 240-employee worksite meets the 12-month test and the 50-within-75-miles test. But 1,250 - 1,100 = 150 hours short. She is not eligible. One failed element ends it.
12 weeks against 26
- Ordinary FMLA-qualifying reasons: up to 12 workweeks.
- Military caregiver leave: up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period.
- The combined total of all FMLA leave in that single 12-month period is capped at 26 workweeks.
So an employee who has already used 8 workweeks for her own serious health condition and then needs military caregiver leave has 26 - 8 = 18 workweeks left. The right answer is 18 for the right reason: the combined cap, not 26 weeks treated as fully separate and additive on top of the 12.
Carry this in
Coverage is 50 companywide over 20 workweeks. Eligibility is 12 months, 1,250 hours, 50 within 75 miles - and every one of them has to clear.