Use FMLA for Mental Health: A Step-by-Step Guide to Taking Leave

FMLA provides eligible employees with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in the employer’s applicable 12-month period for qualifying reasons. For your own serious health condition, this includes being unable to work or perform at least one essential job function, or needing to be absent to receive treatment for the condition. Leave available depends on your remaining entitlement. See the Department of Labor’s FMLA FAQs.

When Can a Mental Health Condition Qualify?

A mental health condition must meet FMLA’s definition of a serious health condition through inpatient care or qualifying continuing treatment. Chronic conditions such as anxiety or depression can qualify when they cause periods of incapacity and require treatment at least twice a year over an extended period. A diagnosis, stress, or burnout alone does not automatically establish eligibility. A provider can evaluate your symptoms, treatment needs, and ability to work. Read DOL’s mental health and FMLA guidance.

Who Is Eligible for FMLA?

Under the general federal rules, you must:

• Work for a covered employer.
• Have worked for that employer for at least 12 months.
• Have at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12 months immediately before leave.
• Work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.

Private employers generally are covered if they employed at least 50 employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Public agencies and public or private elementary and secondary schools are covered regardless of size, but employee eligibility requirements still apply. Special rules apply to some workers, including airline flight crews and most federal employees. Ask HR or your leave administrator to confirm your eligibility and remaining leave. See DOL’s general FMLA fact sheet.

Step-by-Step: How to Request FMLA for Mental Health

1. Discuss Your Symptoms and Treatment Needs With a Provider

Explain how symptoms affect your job and whether appointments or a period away from work may be needed. The appropriate treatment setting and medically necessary time away depend on your individual assessment.

2. Notify HR or Your Leave Administrator

Ask for the leave process, certification instructions, deadlines, and information about paid leave and insurance premiums. Provide enough information for your employer to recognize a potentially qualifying reason. For foreseeable leave, give at least 30 days’ notice when possible and practical. Otherwise, notify the employer as soon as possible and practical. Follow usual call-in procedures unless unusual circumstances prevent it. See DOL’s employee notice guidance.

3. Confirm Who Can Complete Medical Certification

If your employer requests certification, ask your treating provider whether they qualify to complete it. FMLA recognizes providers including physicians, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants practicing within the scope allowed by state law. Other providers may qualify in specified circumstances. A therapist’s job title alone does not establish eligibility to certify leave. See DOL’s health care provider definition.

4. Return Complete Certification on Time

A diagnosis is not required on an FMLA certification. The certification must contain sufficient medical facts supporting the need for leave, such as expected duration and, when relevant, the estimated frequency and duration of intermittent absences. Discuss what information is needed with the provider. See DOL’s certification information.

Your employer must allow at least 15 calendar days after requesting certification. You may be entitled to additional time when meeting that deadline is not practicable despite diligent, good-faith efforts. If certification is incomplete or insufficient, the employer must identify the missing information in writing and generally allow at least seven calendar days to correct it. Contact the employer promptly if a deadline cannot be met. See DOL’s certification rules, Chapter 39.

5. Review Your Employer’s Written Notices

The employer determines eligibility and designates qualifying leave as FMLA; the provider supplies supporting medical information. Eligibility notice generally is due within five business days of the request or the employer learning leave may qualify, absent extenuating circumstances. Designation notice generally is due within five business days after enough information is available, absent extenuating circumstances. Review the notices for leave dates, certification requirements, premiums, and any fitness-for-duty requirement. See DOL’s employer notice guidance.

6. Coordinate Treatment and Leave

Leave may be continuous, intermittent, or a reduced schedule when medically necessary for a qualifying serious health condition. For planned treatment, make a reasonable effort to schedule care to avoid undue disruption at work, subject to the provider’s approval. Keep HR informed if the expected timing changes. A program’s session schedule does not itself determine the amount of FMLA leave you need.

7. Plan Your Return to Work

Review your return date and any properly requested fitness-for-duty certification with HR and your provider. FMLA generally provides restoration to the same or an equivalent job, subject to its requirements and exceptions. It is not an unconditional guarantee against job loss. Existing group health coverage continues on the same terms during qualifying leave, including your usual share of premiums. See DOL’s employee protections guidance.

What Medical Information Is Private?

FMLA requires employers to keep medical records confidential and separate from routine personnel files. Managers may be told about necessary absences or work restrictions. Your direct supervisor cannot contact your provider for certification clarification; an authorized HR professional, leave administrator, management official, or another health care provider may do so within FMLA’s limits. See DOL’s medical certification guidance.

HIPAA generally governs disclosures by covered providers and health plans; it generally does not protect employment records or apply to an employer’s actions. See HHS’s workplace privacy explanation.

Does FMLA Pay You During Leave?

FMLA itself does not provide wage replacement. Employer paid leave or disability benefits may run alongside qualifying FMLA leave under applicable rules. New Jersey Temporary Disability Insurance may provide benefits for an eligible worker’s own non-work-related mental or physical illness. New Jersey Family Leave Insurance is a separate program for specified family-care and bonding situations. Benefits and job protections have their own requirements; consult New Jersey’s current MyLeaveBenefits guidance and your employer rather than assuming FMLA approval also approves payments.

New Jersey expanded job protections effective July 17, 2026. Workers receiving state or approved private-plan TDI/FLI benefits may have protection under those laws when leave is not already covered by NJFLA. Check the state’s current job-protection guidance for your situation.