Navigating FMLA: DOL’s New Opinion Letter Clarifies Travel Time

Takeaways

• The DOL confirmed in a 01.05.26 opinion letter that FMLA leave may be used for time spent traveling to and from a medical appointment for a serious health condition.
• It also confirmed that a healthcare provider need not provide an estimate of travel time.
• The opinion letter provides helpful examples of when travel time is and is not related to a serious health condition.

Related link

• FMLA2026-2

Article

The Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued an opinion letter on Jan. 5, 2026, explaining that an employee’s available leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may be applied toward time spent traveling to and from a medical appointment.

The opinion letter also clarifies that there is no need for the healthcare provider to address how much time the employee will spend traveling to and from the appointment.

The DOL’s guidance is helpful for all employers that have employees who may take FMLA leave for their own or for a family member’s serious health condition.

Opinion Letter

The DOL considered the FMLA’s statutory and regulatory language, which entitles eligible employees to use leave for their own or a family member’s serious health condition or serious injury or illness, intermittently or on a reduced-leave schedule, when “medically necessary.” The regulations provide examples of intermittent leave, which include leave taken on an occasional basis for medical appointments.

The DOL opined that “[p]art and parcel of obtaining care and continuing treatment from a medical provider” is travel time to the provider’s location. It noted the FMLA leave, however, does not include travel time or stops for activities unrelated to a serious health condition.

The DOL also opined that “[a] healthcare provider’s knowledge does not extend to the travel time necessary for a patient to get to and return from a needed appointment.” Therefore, it concluded that a medical certification does not need to include information about the employee’s travel time in order to be complete and valid under the FMLA regulations.

Examples

The DOL provided examples of when leave is or is not covered:

• An eligible employee schedules their dialysis treatment at 4:00 p.m. The 30-minute travel time to the appointment, along with any time in treatment before the 5:00 p.m. scheduled end of their work day, is covered by the FMLA.
   
• An eligible employee requests intermittent leave to take their mother to her biweekly doctor’s appointments for the treatment of a serious health condition. The amount of time the employee needs to travel from work to pick up their mother, transport her to the appointment, wait for the appointment to begin, wait while she has her appointment, transport their mother to her home, and travel back to work is all FMLA-protected leave and may be counted against the employee’s FMLA entitlement. Although each appointment is about 30 minutes long, all two to two-and-a-half hours that the employee uses is protected by the FMLA. 
   
• An employee requests leave from work to accompany their child on a school field trip. The child has a serious health condition but does not need care during the field trip. The employee’s leave for the field trip would not be covered by the FMLA because the requested leave is unrelated to the child’s serious health condition.
   
• An eligible employee takes leave every Friday for two hours to go to physical therapy for their serious health condition. One Friday, the employee requests leave for three hours, including an extra hour to run personal errands after their physical therapy appointment. The two hours they need to travel to and from and to attend physical therapy is FMLA-protected. The additional hour to run errands not related to their serious health condition, however, is not FMLA-protected leave and would not count against their FMLA entitlement.

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This opinion letter was one of six the DOL published on Jan. 5, 2026. Such a move so early in the year signals employers can expect to see opinion letters released more frequently under the Trump Administration. One of the additional opinion letters addresses how a FMLA is calculated for school employees and the other letters relate to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) compliance.

Reach out to your Jackson Lewis attorney with any questions about complying with the FMLA and FLSA or for assistance in preparing an opinion letter request.