A leave of absence in Texas is governed almost entirely by federal law. Texas has no general family or medical leave statute of its own, so most workers rely on the federal Family and Medical Leave Act for up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off, with a handful of narrower federal and state rules covering pregnancy accommodations, nursing breaks, disability, jury duty, voting, and military service. Whether you actually qualify depends on your employer’s size, how long you’ve worked there, and the reason you need to be away.
Why State Law Leaves Most of the Work to the Federal Government
Texas is an at-will employment state, and either side can end the working relationship at any time for any legal reason.1Texas Workforce Commission. Pay and Policies – General The Texas Workforce Commission has confirmed there are no state laws requiring private employers to grant family leave, paid or unpaid, beyond what federal law demands.2Texas Workforce Commission. Texas Work and Family Policies That makes the federal FMLA the practical floor for most Texas employees. For workers at small companies, even that floor may not exist.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The FMLA provides up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during any 12-month period for qualifying reasons.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement The leave is unpaid, but your employer cannot fire you for taking it, and you’re entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position when you come back.
Who Qualifies
Three requirements must all be met. You need at least 12 months of employment with your current employer and at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12 months before the leave starts.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions And your employer must have at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of your worksite.5U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
That 50-employee threshold is where many Texas workers fall through the cracks. If your employer is smaller, FMLA doesn’t apply, and your only protection comes from whatever leave policy the company voluntarily offers.
Qualifying Reasons
The FMLA covers five categories of leave, each providing up to 12 workweeks per year:
- Your own serious health condition, meaning any illness, injury, or condition that prevents you from performing your job functions, including hospital stays and ongoing treatment.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28P – Taking Leave from Work When You or Your Family Member Has a Serious Health Condition Under the FMLA
- Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
- The birth of your child or the placement of a child through adoption or foster care.
- Qualifying exigencies when your spouse, child, or parent is on covered active duty or has been notified of an impending deployment.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
- Military caregiver leave, the one exception to the 12-week cap. If you’re the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a service member with a serious injury or illness, you get up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M(a) – Military Caregiver Leave for a Current Servicemember Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
Health Insurance and Job Reinstatement
Your employer must keep your group health insurance active during FMLA leave under the same terms as if you were still working.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2614 – Employment and Benefits Protection Family coverage stays family coverage, and dental, vision, mental health, and any other benefits included in the group plan continue too.9eCFR. 29 CFR 825.209 – Maintenance of Group Health Plan Coverage
You still owe your share of the premium. Most employers arrange for you to pay on your regular payroll schedule, though some allow prepayment or catch-up payments after you return. If you miss a premium payment, the employer cannot immediately cancel coverage. Federal regulations require at least 15 days’ written notice before dropping you, and if coverage does lapse due to nonpayment, your employer must restore it without waiting periods or new enrollment forms once you’re back at work.
Retaliation
Federal law makes it illegal for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny FMLA rights, or to fire or discriminate against you for taking leave, filing a complaint, or testifying in a related proceeding.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2615 – Prohibited Acts Most leave disputes end up here. Employers rarely deny the leave outright. Instead, an employee comes back to a position that’s been eliminated, hours that have been cut, or responsibilities that have been reassigned, and those actions can qualify as retaliation if they’re connected to the leave.
Pregnancy and Nursing
Two more recent federal laws expanded protections that FMLA alone doesn’t fully cover, and both reach smaller employers than FMLA does.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would cause undue hardship.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000gg-1 – Nondiscrimination With Regard to Reasonable Accommodations Related to Pregnancy Accommodations can include schedule changes, lighter duties, telework, additional breaks, and leave for medical appointments or recovery from childbirth.12U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Your employer cannot force you onto leave if a different reasonable accommodation would let you keep working.
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time to express breast milk for up to one year after a child’s birth, along with a private space that is not a bathroom, shielded from view, and free from intrusion. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt only if compliance would cause significant difficulty or expense relative to the size and resources of the business.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 218d – Breastfeeding Accommodations in the Workplace Break time doesn’t have to be paid unless you aren’t completely relieved from duty during the break.
Disability Leave Under the ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act takes a different approach than FMLA. Instead of a fixed number of weeks, the ADA requires employers with 15 or more employees to consider unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation for a disability. EEOC guidance says this obligation can apply even when an employee has already exhausted FMLA leave, isn’t eligible for FMLA, or works for an employer that doesn’t offer leave at all.14U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
The main limit is that the leave must have a definite end point. The EEOC’s position is that indefinite leave, where an employee cannot say whether or when they’ll be able to return, is an undue hardship and does not have to be granted.14U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act Even a rough return date from your doctor puts you in a much stronger position than an open-ended timeline. This matters most if you’ve burned through 12 weeks of FMLA and still need recovery time.
Narrow Texas Statutes That Protect Specific Absences
Texas does have a few statutes protecting workers who miss work for specific reasons. These apply regardless of employer size unless noted.
Jury Duty
An employer cannot fire, threaten, intimidate, or coerce an employee for serving as a juror or attending court in connection with jury service. The law doesn’t require your employer to pay you for the time, but your job must be waiting when you finish. If your employer fires you anyway, you can sue for reinstatement plus damages ranging from one year’s compensation at the low end to five years’ compensation at the high end, plus attorney’s fees.15State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 122.001 – Protection of Jurors Employment
Voting
It’s a criminal offense for an employer to refuse to let you leave work to vote, but the protection only applies if the polls are not open for at least two consecutive hours outside your working hours. If your shift already leaves you with a two-hour window while the polls are open, your employer has no legal obligation to give you more time. When the protection does apply, the time off is paid, and an employer who violates the rule faces a Class C misdemeanor charge.16State of Texas. Texas Election Code 276.004 – Unlawfully Prohibiting Employee From Voting
Military Leave for Public Employees
Texas Government Code § 437.202 provides paid military leave to officers and employees of the state, counties, municipalities, and other political subdivisions who are members of the Texas military forces or a reserve component of the U.S. armed forces. These employees receive up to 15 paid workdays per fiscal year for authorized training or duty, without losing seniority, efficiency ratings, vacation time, or sick leave. If the governor calls up a government employee for active duty during a declared disaster, an additional seven paid workdays are available on top of the 15.17State of Texas. Texas Government Code 437.202 – Leave of Absence for Public Officers and Employees
This benefit is public-sector only. Private-sector employees in Texas do not receive state-mandated military leave, though they keep federal protections under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.
Workers’ Compensation Retaliation
Texas Labor Code § 451.001 prohibits employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against an employee who files a workers’ compensation claim in good faith, hires a lawyer for a comp claim, or testifies in a workers’ comp proceeding. It isn’t a leave statute as such, but many workplace injuries require time off to recover, and if your employer retaliates against you while you’re away, you have a separate cause of action under state law.
How to Get Paid While You’re Out
Most protected leave in Texas is unpaid. The state does not run a temporary disability insurance program. That leaves a few options for covering lost income:
- Employer-provided short-term disability insurance, which typically replaces 50% to 70% of salary for a limited period. Check your benefits enrollment materials, because coverage has to be in place before you need it.
- Accrued paid time off. Your employer may require or allow you to use vacation, sick leave, or PTO concurrently with FMLA. This doesn’t extend total leave, but it turns some of the time into paid time.
- Private disability insurance purchased outside the workplace, which generally has waiting periods and must be in force before the qualifying event.
Texas state employees have somewhat better options. They accrue eight hours of sick leave per month and can draw from a state sick leave pool or family leave pool if they exhaust their personal leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury.18State of Texas. Texas Government Code Chapter 661 – Leave Private-sector employees have no equivalent state benefit.
Requesting the Leave
Start with your company’s employee handbook. Look for internal leave policies, required forms, and instructions on whether you must use accrued paid time off alongside your leave. Then gather the basics: requested start and end dates, the reason, and any supporting documentation.
For FMLA leave tied to a health condition, you’ll need a medical certification from your healthcare provider. The Department of Labor publishes Form WH-380-E for leave based on your own serious health condition and Form WH-380-F for leave to care for a family member.19U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Forms Your employer can use its own version, but the information required is the same: the nature of the condition, expected duration, and whether you’ll need intermittent leave. Get the form signed by your provider before submitting your request. Incomplete certifications are the most common reason for processing delays.
Once you submit, federal regulations set deadlines for your employer. You must receive an eligibility notice within five business days telling you whether you qualify. Once the employer has enough information to decide, it must issue a designation notice within five business days confirming that the time counts against your FMLA entitlement.20eCFR. 29 CFR 825.300 – Employer Notice Requirements A missed deadline doesn’t automatically approve or deny your leave, but the failure is evidence of interference with your FMLA rights if a dispute arises later. Keep copies of everything, note the dates, screenshot HR portal confirmations, and use certified mail with return receipt if you send anything by mail.