On January 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an opinion letter stating that days during which a school is closed, do not count as Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) days for employees that planned to be on FMLA leave during those days but for less than the full week.
DOL’s opinion is based on interpretation of FMLA and surrounding law. FMLA states that holidays do not count against leave when an employee takes leave for only part of a workweek. Instead, only the days of leave actually taken are counted. 29 C.F.R. § 825.200(h). Further, U.S. labor laws prohibit the reduction of an employee’s leave beyond days actually taken when FMLA leave is used on an intermittent or reduced schedule basis. 29 U.S.C. § 2612(b)(1).
On the other hand, FMLA states that when a holiday falls during a week that an employee has planned to take a full workweek of leave, the entire workweek counts as FMLA leave. 29 C.F.R. § 825.200(h). Therefore, DOL found that an employer may deduct a full workweek of leave for an employee taking FMLA leave for one or more full workweeks at a time, even if there are some closure days during that week.
Finally, DOL concluded that when a school closure day was planned or unplanned does not factor into the determination of FMLA usage, nor does requiring employees to attend a make-up day for the closure. If an employee requests FMLA leave on the make-up day for the previous closure, that request will require additional evaluation and approval independent of the day that was cancelled.
If you have general questions regarding the DOL opinion, please feel free to reach out to OSBA’s legal division at 855-OSBA-LAW. For more specific questions please reach out to your board’s counsel.
See the following OSBA publications for additional information on FMLA regulations:
The Family and Medical Leave Act
HR Desktop Reference Guide-Pages 26-27