FMLA in Delaware: Federal Rules, State Leave Laws, and an Eligibility Calculator (2026)

How does FMLA work in Delaware?

The federal FMLA applies in Delaware exactly as it does everywhere: up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for employees with 12 months of service, 1,250 hours worked in the prior 12 months, and 50 or more employees within 75 miles of their worksite, at a private employer with 50 or more employees or any public agency or school. Delaware adds no state family and medical leave statute for private employers, so the FMLA's thresholds are the only ones. Delaware Paid Leave (Healthy Delaware Families Act) pays a benefit during the leave, there is no statewide paid sick leave mandate, and there is no bereavement leave mandate. Checked September 15, 2026.

Does the federal FMLA apply in Delaware?

Yes, and identically to every other state. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives an eligible employee up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition, a new child, care for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition, or a military exigency, and up to 26 weeks to care for a seriously injured servicemember. To be eligible you need 12 months of service with the employer, 1,250 hours actually worked in the 12 months before the leave, and a worksite with 50 or more employees within 75 miles. Private employers are covered at 50 or more employees on the payroll in 20 or more workweeks; public agencies and schools are covered at any size.

The three employee tests are measured on the day the leave starts, and the third one is the one that surprises people in Delaware: a covered employer with a small branch has a worksite where nobody is eligible if fewer than 50 employees work at that branch and at other sites within 75 road miles. Hours actually worked in the prior 12 months decide the 1,250-hour test; paid time off and holidays do not count. The calculator on this page runs all three tests and, when one fails, names the date or the hours that would satisfy it.

What Delaware leave laws add to the FMLA

Delaware has no separate unpaid family and medical leave statute for private employers; its job-protected state leave is built into the paid program instead. Delaware Paid Leave carries its own job restoration and anti-retaliation rules for employees with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours, at employers with 10 or more employees (10 to 24: parental leave only). Below the program's thresholds, and for reasons the program does not cover, the FMLA's thresholds are the thresholds: an employer with fewer than 50 employees owes no federal job-protected leave, and an employee with 11 months of service or 1,100 hours has no FMLA right, however serious the condition. Anything beyond the two laws is the employer's policy.

What the state does regulate is narrower. Pregnant workers fairness provisions of the Discrimination in Employment Act (19 Del. C. 710 ff., since 2014): employers with 4 or more must reasonably accommodate pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions, including leave. No statewide paid sick leave mandate for private employers. Delaware Paid Leave's 10-to-24-employee tier owes parental leave only, and the program does not reach employers with fewer than 10 employees, so an employee of a 9-person Delaware business has no statutory leave right under state or federal law. None of these change the FMLA arithmetic: the 12 weeks, the 1,250 hours, and the 12-month method are the same in Delaware as anywhere else.

Is FMLA leave paid in Delaware?

The FMLA itself pays nothing. Whether the 12 weeks are paid depends on the state program, any disability insurance, and the employer's own paid leave, which may be substituted for the unpaid leave under 29 CFR 825.207. Delaware runs Delaware Paid Leave (Healthy Delaware Families Act): benefits since January 2026. 12 weeks parental per year; 6 weeks per 24 months for own health, family care, or military; 12 weeks combined per year. Employers with 10 or more (10 to 24: parental only). Carries job restoration. It covers the employee's own serious health condition as well as bonding and family care, so there is no separate disability program. Delaware Paid Leave carries its own job restoration and anti-retaliation rules for employees with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours, at employers with 10 or more employees (10 to 24: parental leave only).

While the state benefit is paid the leave is not unpaid, so an employer may not require PTO to run at the same time; several programs let the employee top up to full pay with PTO if the employer agrees. There is no statewide paid sick leave mandate in Delaware, so sick days during FMLA leave come only from the employer's policy. The Delaware paid leave calculator linked below estimates the weekly benefit under the current formula and cap.

How the 12-month period and the calculator work in Delaware

The federal entitlement in Delaware is 12 workweeks in the 12-month period the employer has chosen: calendar year, a fixed leave year, 12 months forward from first use, or a rolling 12 months measured backward from each day of leave. The method must be applied to everyone, disclosed in the rights and responsibilities notice, and changed only on 60 days' written notice. Under the rolling method every hour returns 12 months after the day it was taken; under the other three the full entitlement returns on one date. With no general state statute in Delaware, the federal method is the only clock to track.

The calculator on this page is preset to Delaware. Run the eligibility panel as of the leave start date, convert the schedule into hours (480 for a 40-hour week), then enter the leave taken and the employer's method to see the hours available today, the hours available on a future date, and, under the rolling method, the dates on which used hours come back.

Sources and last check

This page was checked on September 15, 2026 against Delaware Department of Labor, Delaware Paid Leave; Delaware Department of Labor, Office of Anti-Discrimination; 19 Del. C. 710 ff., Chapter 37 (Healthy Delaware Families Act). The federal rules are 29 U.S.C. 2601 ff. and 29 CFR Part 825. State thresholds and programs change, most often on January 1; the paid leave figures on the linked calculator carry their own effective dates.