New Bill Adjusts FMLA Rules for School Support Staff, Requiring Only 60% of Expected Hours for Eligibility

If you’ve ever worked for a school district outside of a classroom teaching role—think bus drivers, maintenance crews, cafeteria staff, or paraprofessionals—you know the schedule is weird. You might work full-time during the school year, but those summer breaks and holidays can make it nearly impossible to hit the standard hours required to qualify for the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The ESP, Paraprofessional, and Education Support Staff Family Leave Act aims to fix that exact problem. This bill directly targets the FMLA’s eligibility requirements for "covered educational employees"—basically anyone who is not a teacher but keeps the school running. It acknowledges that the current FMLA standard, which requires working a certain number of hours over 12 months, often unfairly excludes these vital staff members because of the way school calendars break up their work hours.

The 60% Solution: Making FMLA Accessible

Under the existing FMLA, you need to have worked 1,250 hours in the last year to qualify for job-protected leave. For school support staff who are often laid off or have reduced hours during the summer, hitting that number is a stretch. This bill introduces a new, fairer eligibility test for these employees, specifically defined as paraprofessionals and education support staff (which includes clerical, food service, maintenance, and trade workers).

Instead of the 1,250-hour rule, these employees will now be considered eligible for FMLA if they worked at least 60 percent of the total monthly hours expected for their job during the previous school year (SEC. 2). For example, if a school maintenance worker’s job description is designed for 160 hours a month during the nine months of the school year, they would only need to log about 96 hours (60%) in those months to count toward their eligibility threshold. This change is huge because it recognizes the reality of school employment schedules.

Administrative Homework for Districts

While this is a clear win for workers, it does create some new paperwork for school employers. The bill requires employers to keep detailed records of the “expected total monthly hours” for every single job role covered under this new rule and file those records with the Secretary of Labor (SEC. 2). This is a necessary administrative step to ensure compliance, but it means school districts will need to be very clear and transparent about the expected workload for every position, which could require updating payroll and HR systems.

Calculating Leave When the Schedule is Seasonal

The other major hurdle the bill addresses is calculating how much leave someone actually gets when their schedule is seasonal. FMLA typically grants 12 weeks of leave, but calculating that for an employee who has long breaks can get complicated. Section 3 mandates that the Secretary of Labor must establish clear, specific guidelines for calculating FMLA leave entitlement for these covered educational employees, making sure the calculations align with existing FMLA rules but adapt to the non-standard school calendar. This is critical for ensuring that, say, a bus driver taking leave during the school year doesn't lose out on their full entitlement just because of how the calendar falls around semester breaks.