By: HUB's Absence Management Team

School employers face unique challenges when administering FMLA, and the DOL has issued timely guidance to address one of the trickiest scenarios: what happens when school closures overlap with approved leave.

What the DOL Says

The January 5, 2026 opinion letter clarifies two key scenarios:

Partial-Week Leave: If a school system employee is approved for FMLA leave for less than a full workweek and the school closes during that time, those closure days cannot be deducted from the employee's FMLA entitlement. For example, if an employee has approved intermittent leave for a Thursday appointment but school closes that day for snow, the closure day should not count against their 12 weeks.

Full-Week Leave: If a school system employee is approved for a full workweek of FMLA leave and the school closes for part of that week, the employer may still deduct the entire workweek from the employee's entitlement.

Action Steps

  • Audit current leave cases and adjust entitlements for any school employees whose intermittent leave overlapped with recent school closures.
  • Review your FMLA tracking processes to ensure closure days are properly excluded when applicable.
  • If you use a third-party leave administrator, confirm how they're handling inclement weather closures for employees on leave.

Resources

If you have any questions, please contact your HUB Advisor. We will continue to monitor and provide updates as more information becomes available. View more updates in our Bulletins page.

NOTICE OF DISCLAIMER

Neither HUB International Limited nor any of its affiliated companies is a law or accounting firm, and therefore, they cannot provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is provided for general information only and is not intended to constitute legal or tax advice as to an organization’s specific circumstances. You should consult an attorney, accountant or other legal or tax professional regarding the application of the general information provided here to your organization’s specific situation in light of your organization’s particular needs.