The entitlement to care for a covered servicemember is 26 workweeks of leave in a "single 12-month period." The "single 12-month period" begins on the first day the eligible employee takes FMLA leave to care for a covered servicemember and ends 12 months after that date, regardless of the method used by the employer to determine the employee’s 12 workweeks of leave entitlement for other FMLA-qualifying reasons. (See Selecting a 12-Month Leave Year for more information on the 12-month leave year that applies for other types of FMLA-qualifying leave.)

If an eligible employee does not take all of his or her 26 workweeks leave entitlement to care for a covered servicemember during this single 12-month period, the remaining part of his or her 26 workweeks of leave entitlement to care for the covered servicemember is forfeited.

The leave entitlement is applied per covered servicemember, per injury or illness. That means an eligible employee may be entitled to take more than one period of 26 workweeks of leave if the leave is to care for different covered servicemembers or to care for the same servicemember with a subsequent serious injury or illnesses. This means that an eligible employee may take military caregiver leave for the same family member with the same serious injury or illness both when the family member is a current servicemember and when the family member is a veteran. (This is because a current servicemember and a covered veteran are considered two distinct categories of covered servicemembers.) However, no more than 26 workweeks of leave may be taken within any single 12-month period.

An eligible employee is entitled to a combined total of 26 workweeks of leave for all FMLA-qualifying reasons during the single 12-month period. Up to 26 workweeks may be taken for military caregiver leave. However of those 26 workweeks, only 12 workweeks may be taken for other FMLA-qualifying reasons. For example, an eligible employee may, during the single 12-month period, take 16 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a covered servicemember and 10 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a newborn child. However, the employee may not take more than 12 weeks of FMLA leave to care for the newborn child during the single 12-month period, even if the employee takes fewer than 14 weeks of FMLA leave to care for a covered servicemember.

Continue to Military Family Leave Certifications or Return to Military Family Leave Introduction.