FMLA Rules for Michigan Employers: Is FMLA Paid, and Does Michigan Have Paid Family Leave?
Short answer: FMLA leave is unpaid, and Michigan does not have a state paid family leave program. Private employers with 50 or more employees must follow the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave a year. Any pay during that leave comes from somewhere else: Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA), which applies to every employer, and whatever paid time off or disability coverage the employer provides.
This guide covers who has to comply, who qualifies, how FMLA and ESTA fit together, and the notices, forms and deadlines HR has to hit. It is general information, not legal advice; for a specific leave dispute, talk to employment counsel.
Is FMLA Paid in Michigan?
No. FMLA protects the job and the health coverage, not the paycheck. Two things can put pay back into the leave:
- Paid leave the employee has already earned. An employee can choose, or the employer’s policy can require, to use accrued vacation, PTO or sick time during FMLA leave. The paid time and the FMLA time then run at the same time rather than back to back.
- Disability insurance. When the leave is for the employee’s own serious health condition, including recovery from childbirth, short-term disability coverage is what usually replaces part of the income. FMLA and disability benefits commonly run together.
Does Michigan Have Paid Family Leave?
As of 2026, Michigan has not enacted a paid family and medical leave program, so there is no state-run benefit or payroll contribution like the ones in states such as Massachusetts or Colorado. The Michigan law that does provide paid time is the Earned Sick Time Act, which replaced the older Paid Medical Leave Act on February 21, 2025. ESTA is sick time, not family leave: it covers shorter absences for illness, medical care, caring for a family member and related reasons.
If you have employees working in other states, their state may have its own paid leave program. Our guide to multi-state paid leave laws covers how that works.
Which Michigan Employers Must Follow FMLA
A private employer is covered if it had 50 or more employees in each of 20 or more workweeks in the current or the preceding calendar year. Public agencies and public and private elementary and secondary schools are covered regardless of size.
The 50-employee count for coverage is company-wide. The separate “50 employees within 75 miles” test is not about whether the employer is covered; it decides whether a particular employee is eligible, as explained next. A company can be covered by FMLA and still have employees at a small, remote location who are not eligible.
Which Employees Are Eligible
At a covered employer, an employee is eligible when all three of these are true:
- They have worked for the employer for at least 12 months. The months do not have to be consecutive.
- They have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave starts.
- They work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.
What FMLA Leave Covers
Eligible employees can take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
- The birth of a child and bonding with the newborn, or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care.
- Caring for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health condition.
- The employee’s own serious health condition.
- Qualifying exigencies arising from a family member’s military deployment.
Military caregiver leave, for caring for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness, allows up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period. Leave can be taken all at once, or intermittently or on a reduced schedule when medically necessary. The Department of Labor’s FMLA fact sheet is the plain-language summary of these rules.
Job Restoration and Health Coverage During Leave
When the leave ends, the employee returns to the same job or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits and working conditions. During the leave, the employer must keep the employee’s group health coverage on the same terms as if they were working, including the employer’s share of the premium.
- The employee’s share still has to be paid. Decide in advance how you will collect it during unpaid leave, such as billing the employee directly or catching up through payroll on return, and put it in the rights and responsibilities notice.
- Late premiums. If the employee’s payment is more than 30 days late, the employer may end coverage, but only after mailing written notice at least 15 days before coverage ends.
- Not coming back. If an employee does not return from leave, the employer can generally recover the premiums it paid during unpaid leave, unless the reason is a continuing serious health condition or another circumstance beyond the employee’s control. The end of the leave is also generally when COBRA continuation rights begin; see our note on benefits continuation for smaller employers.
How FMLA and Michigan’s Earned Sick Time Act Work Together
ESTA and FMLA are different laws that often apply to the same absence. Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity says ESTA time may run concurrently with FMLA leave when the leave meets FMLA’s requirements.
| Federal FMLA | Michigan ESTA | |
|---|---|---|
| Who must comply | Employers with 50+ employees in 20+ workweeks | All Michigan employers |
| Paid or unpaid | Unpaid | Paid |
| How much | Up to 12 workweeks (26 for military caregiver leave) | Accrues at 1 hour per 30 hours worked; use can be capped at 72 hours a year, or 40 hours for employers with 10 or fewer employees |
| Employee eligibility | 12 months, 1,250 hours, 50 employees within 75 miles | Accrual starts on hire; with the accrual method, new hires can be asked to wait until their 120th day to use it |
| Health coverage during leave | Must be maintained | No separate requirement |
| Job protection | Same or equivalent job on return | Protection from retaliation for using it |
ESTA’s small-business rules took effect on October 1, 2025, and employers can frontload the annual amount instead of tracking accrual. ESTA also affects who counts as eligible for benefits in some plans; our article on how ESTA affects group health insurance eligibility covers that side. Writing the two laws into one clear leave policy is what keeps the tracking straight.
Required Notices, Forms and Deadlines
| Step | Deadline | DOL form (optional) |
|---|---|---|
| Post the FMLA general notice where employees can see it | Ongoing | WHD 1420 poster |
| Tell the employee whether they are eligible, with the rights and responsibilities notice | Within 5 business days of the first leave request | WH-381 |
| Employee returns medical certification, if requested | At least 15 calendar days after the request | WH-380-E (employee), WH-380-F (family member) |
| Military leave certification, if requested | At least 15 calendar days after the request | WH-384 (exigency), WH-385 (caregiver) |
| Tell the employee whether the leave is designated as FMLA | Within 5 business days of having enough information | WH-382 |
Two rules employers often get wrong:
- Recertification can generally be requested no more often than every 30 days, and only in connection with an absence. If the certification says the condition will last longer, you wait until that period ends, though you can always ask every six months. Earlier requests are allowed only when circumstances change significantly or you receive information that casts doubt on the stated reason.
- Intermittent leave must be tracked in the smallest increment your payroll system uses for other absences, and never in increments larger than one hour.
The Key Employee Exception
A key employee is a salaried, FMLA-eligible employee among the highest-paid 10 percent of employees within 75 miles of their worksite. The employer can deny job restoration to a key employee only if restoring them would cause “substantial and grievous economic injury” to the business, and only after giving the required written notices. The exception affects restoration only; the employee still gets the leave and the health coverage during it.
What Getting FMLA Wrong Costs
An employee can file a complaint with the Department of Labor or sue directly. Damages can include lost wages and benefits, interest, and an equal amount in liquidated damages, plus attorney’s fees. The common triggers are counting FMLA time wrong, missing the notice deadlines, dropping health coverage during leave, and disciplining someone for absences that were protected. Our page on FMLA penalties for employers covers the enforcement side in detail.
Michigan FMLA Checklist for HR
- Confirm coverage: count employees for each workweek of this year and last.
- Hang the FMLA poster and put the FMLA policy in the handbook.
- Choose how the 12-month period is measured and apply it consistently.
- Decide whether paid leave and ESTA time run at the same time as FMLA, and say so in the policy.
- Set up how employee premium shares are collected during unpaid leave.
- Calendar the 5-business-day notice deadlines for every leave request.
- Check that short-term disability coverage, if you offer it, lines up with how FMLA leave is designated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FMLA paid in Michigan?
No. FMLA leave is unpaid in Michigan, as it is everywhere. Employees can use accrued paid time off or ESTA sick time during the leave, and short-term disability insurance can replace part of their income when the leave is for their own health condition.
Does Michigan have paid family leave?
Not as of 2026. Michigan has no state paid family and medical leave program. The Earned Sick Time Act requires paid sick time, but that is a limited annual amount, not extended family leave.
Do small Michigan businesses have to offer FMLA?
Private employers with fewer than 50 employees are not covered by FMLA. They still have to follow the Earned Sick Time Act, which applies to Michigan employers of every size.
Can an employer require employees to use paid time off during FMLA leave?
Yes. An employer’s policy can require accrued paid leave to run at the same time as FMLA leave, as long as employees are told in the required notices. ESTA time can also run concurrently when the leave meets FMLA’s requirements.
Does the employer have to keep paying for health insurance during FMLA leave?
Yes. The employer keeps paying its share of group health coverage on the same terms as before the leave. The employee still owes their own share, and coverage can end only if that payment is more than 30 days late and the employer has given 15 days’ written notice.
About CFH Insurance Consultants
CFH Insurance Consultants is a Michigan-based firm specializing in employee benefits and HR compliance consultation. We assist businesses with benefit plan document alignment, premium billing accuracy, and leave management strategies tailored to federal FMLA and Michigan paid leave laws. Partnering with CFH ensures your organization remains compliant while supporting your workforce effectively.
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