May I as an employee take family and medical leave intermittently while my child’s school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, due to COVID-19 related reasons?

Under the Family First Corona Response Act, Yes, but only with your employer’s permission. Intermittent expanded family and medical leave should be permitted only when you and your employer agree upon such a schedule.

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For example, if your child’s school or place of care is closed, or child care provider is unavailable, for an entire week due to COVID-19 related reasons and your employer and you agree, you may take expanded family and medical leave intermittently on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but work Tuesday and Thursday, while another family member watches your child.

The Department notes that if your child’s school, place of care, or child care provider were closed or unavailable on only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, as opposed to the entire week, then you would not need to take intermittent leave if working on the schedule in the example above.

This is because each day of closure or unavailability is a separate reason for leave, and thus you would not need to take leave for a single reason intermittently. As such, you would not need employer permission to take paid leave on just the days of closure or unavailability. See FAQ 98 and 99.

However, you would still need to provide your employer with notice and documentation as soon as practicable. See FAQ 16. The Department encourages employers and employees to collaborate to achieve flexibility. Therefore, if employers and employees agree to intermittent leave on a day-by-day basis, the Department supports such voluntary arrangements.