Yes, if Sheila is otherwise eligible for FMLA leave. Remember, a veteran who is reemployed is entitled to the rights and benefits that he or she would have attained if the veteran had remained continuously employed. The FMLA is among those benefits.

An employee who has been absent from employment for an extended period of time due to military service and who requests FMLA leave may not have actually worked for his or her employer for a total of 12 months. Or the employee may not have performed 1250 hours of actual work with the employer in the 12 months prior to the start of the leave.

To determine whether a veteran has met the FMLA eligibility requirements, however, it would be necessary to combine the months employed, and the hours actually worked for the civilian employer, with the months and hours that the veteran would have worked during the 12-months prior to the start of the leave period, just as if the employee had not been on military leave.

If Sheila is otherwise an “eligible employee,” the 1240 hours that she would have worked but for her military service must be added to the 840 hours she actually worked. Once the hours are combined, Sheila has worked enough hours to qualify for FMLA leave.