You hired a veteran or a Guard or Reserve member. Good move. Then a leave request lands on your desk that does not look like a normal one. The employee needs time off because a family member got called to active duty. Or they need to care for a service member who was hurt. Your usual 12-week leave rules do not quite fit. Now you are not sure how much leave you owe, or for how long.

This is FMLA military family leave. It is part of the same Family and Medical Leave Act you already follow. But it adds two special types of leave on top of the regular rules. One gives up to 12 weeks. The other gives up to 26 weeks. They cover different people and different events. Mixing them up is the most common mistake I see midsize employers make.

This guide breaks down both types in plain terms. Who qualifies, who counts as a family member, how much time you owe, and how it stacks with your regular FMLA. By the end you will know how to read one of these requests and respond without guessing. If you want the broader rules around military time off, pair this with our military leave policy template for employers.

Does FMLA Military Family Leave Apply to My Company?

The same FMLA coverage test applies here. Nothing about the military piece changes who is covered.

Your company is covered if you have 50 or more employees within 75 miles of the worksite. That count is checked when the employee gives notice that they need leave. Once an employee qualifies, a later drop in headcount does not take it away.

The employee also has to meet three things to be eligible. They are spelled out in 29 CFR 825.110.

If your company does not hit 50 employees within 75 miles, FMLA does not apply at all. But you may still have duties under other laws. The Guard and Reserve rules around drill and deployment come from a separate law called USERRA. That one has no headcount minimum. Read our breakdown of USERRA employer obligations for Guard and Reserve so you do not confuse the two.

What Is Qualifying Exigency Leave?

Qualifying exigency leave is the first of the two military types. It gives an eligible employee up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period. The reason has to come from a family member being on covered active duty, or facing a call to covered active duty.

Think of it as the leave that covers the chaos around a deployment. The service member is the one leaving. The employee is the one staying home and dealing with the loose ends. That is who this leave protects.

For exigency leave, the covered family member is the employee's spouse, child, or parent. That is the list. A sibling or a cousin does not count for this type.

What Events Count as an Exigency?

The Department of Labor lays out the qualifying events in Fact Sheet 28M. You do not have to memorize them. But you should know the shape of them so you can spot a valid request.

Note what exigency leave is not. It is not for the employee's own illness. It is not for caring for a sick family member with a normal health condition. Those fall under regular FMLA. Exigency leave is tied to the active-duty call-up itself.

What Is Military Caregiver Leave?

Military caregiver leave is the bigger one. It gives an eligible employee up to 26 workweeks of leave in a single 12-month period. The purpose is to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness. This is the special FMLA entitlement that goes past the normal 12 weeks.

This leave covers a wider set of family members than exigency leave. Here the employee can be the service member's spouse, child, parent, or next of kin. Next of kin means the nearest blood relative, so a sibling or grandparent can qualify when no closer relative is available.

Who Is a Covered Service Member?

This is where employers get tripped up. A covered service member can be a current member or a recent veteran. The rules differ for each.

A current member qualifies when they are getting medical treatment. This includes outpatient status or placement on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness in the line of duty. This includes Guard and Reserve members on covered active duty.

A covered veteran qualifies when they were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. The discharge must have happened within five years before the employee takes leave. The injury or illness has to meet certain standards. Examples include a service-connected condition or a VA disability rating. The full definition is in 29 CFR 825.127.

How Do the 12-Week and 26-Week Limits Work Together?

This is the part most leave administrators get wrong. The two military types do not simply add to your regular FMLA. There is a combined cap, and it depends on the type of leave.

Regular FMLA gives 12 weeks in your standard 12-month period. Qualifying exigency leave also falls inside that 12-week bucket. So an employee using exigency leave does not get 12 weeks on top of regular FMLA. They share the same 12 weeks.

Military caregiver leave is the exception. During the single 12-month period that starts when caregiver leave begins, the employee can take up to 26 weeks total. Of that 26, no more than 12 can be used for any reason other than caregiver leave.

One more wrinkle. The single 12-month period for caregiver leave begins on the first day the employee takes that leave. It runs 12 months from that day. This is different from the 12-month period you use for everyone else. So a caregiver-leave clock can start on its own date and not line up with your company year.

Here is a clean example. An employee takes 8 weeks of caregiver leave to care for an injured son in March. The single 12-month period started in March. Later that year, they also need 4 weeks for the birth of a child. That fits, because 8 plus 4 is 12, and the non-caregiver portion stays at or under 12. They have used 12 of their 26 weeks, with 14 weeks of caregiver leave still on the table for that injured son.

How Should a Midsize Employer Handle These Requests?

You do not need a Fortune 500 leave department to get this right. You need a simple process and one person who owns it. This is what I would set up.

Keep the job protected. Like all FMLA, the employee returns to the same or an equal job, with the same pay and benefits. Keep group health coverage going during the leave on the same terms. Both military types are unpaid under FMLA, though the employee can use paid leave they have earned to cover some of it. Spell all of this out in writing so the employee knows what to expect and you have a record.

Train the manager, not just HR. A direct supervisor who reacts badly to a deployment-related request can sink a good employee fast. The leave is the law, but how the manager handles it sets the tone. Our guide on how to train managers to retain your veteran hires walks through that side.

How Does This Fit With USERRA and Guard Duty?

FMLA military family leave and USERRA are two different laws. They cover different things. Employers blur them all the time, so let me draw the line.

USERRA protects the service member's own job when they leave to serve. Drill weekends, annual training, deployments, the works. It applies to almost every employer with no headcount minimum. FMLA military family leave protects the employee's job when a family member serves or gets hurt.

So a Reserve member who deploys is protected by USERRA. Their spouse works for you and needs time off to handle the deployment. That spouse is protected by FMLA exigency leave. Same family. Two different laws. If you employ Guard and Reserve members, our employer guide to hiring National Guard and Reserve members covers the day-to-day, and the ESGR employer support program is a free resource that helps you stay on the right side of both.

Why Veterans and Military Families Are Worth the Process

Setting up a clean leave process is not a tax. It is a hiring edge. Companies that handle military family leave well earn a reputation fast inside the veteran and military-spouse community. That reputation brings referrals, and referrals are the cheapest hires you will ever make.

The veterans and Guard and Reserve members I have worked with do not expect special treatment. They expect a company that knows the rules and does not panic when a call-up comes. That is a low bar. Clearing it puts you ahead of most midsize employers.

If you want a pipeline of veteran candidates who bring that discipline to your team, that is what Best Military Resume is built for. We add over 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, and our community has built more than 60,000 resumes. When you are ready to source from that pool, reach out to access BMR''s veteran talent pool. Get the leave process right first, then go hire the people worth keeping.