Applying for paid family or medical leave if you have multiple employers

If you work for multiple employers, you may be able to take leave from all jobs or just some. Here's how the process will work.

Overview

If you work for multiple employers, you may be able to take leave from all jobs or just some. You must submit separate applications for each employer. For example, someone seeking to take paid leave from two employers would submit two separate applications and get two separate benefit decisions. Learn more about applying for paid leave. 

To determine if you are financially eligible for paid leave, DFML will look at your total wages from all your employers, even if you are only taking leave from one of them. Regardless of how many employers you have, you are subject to the maximum benefit amount cap. 

The maximum amount of combined family and medical leave you can take each benefit year is 26 weeks across all your jobs. A benefit year is 52 weeks starting on the Sunday prior to the first day of paid leave through any leave program. 

These 26 weeks may include:  

• Up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave to manage a personal serious health condition   
• Up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a family member or to bond with a child  
• Up to 26 weeks of paid family leave to care for a family member who is a member of the armed forces 

Your leave allowance is dependent on the number of hours you work in a week and it is prorated accordingly. 

For example, if you work 6 hours a day, Monday through Friday every week at Employer A and 8 hours per day on Saturdays at Employer B, working an average total of 38 hours per week, you will have a total of 26 weeks of leave available across both jobs. 

In practice, you could take 26 weeks (a week meaning Monday through Friday 6 hours a day) from Employer A and 26 Saturdays from Employer B. You could take this time all together or take it at just one employer or the other. 

It is important to track your leave allowances both in total and for each employer, so you don’t apply for more leave at one employer than you are allowed.