The FMLA is applicable to all private employers that employ 50 or more employees. All public-sector employers are covered, regardless of size.The fact that a person works for a covered employer does not necessarily mean that he or she will be eligible to take leave under the FMLA. The employee must also meet certain eligibility requirements. First, the employee has to have been employed by the employer for at least 12 months. Second, during the 12 months immediately preceding the start of requested FMLA leave, the employee must have actually worked for the employer for at least 1,250 hours. Finally, the employee must work for the employer at a work site that either itself employs at least 50 persons, or within a 75 mile radius of one or more other sites that employ, when combined with the number of persons working at the employee’s particular work site, a total of 50 or more persons.
This last requirement is a recognition of the reality that it might create a severe hardship for an employer if it is required to grant large amounts of time off to workers at small, isolated worksites, where it would be very difficult or impossible for other employees to handle the absent employee’s work duties during an FMLA leave period.