Tricky FMLA questions: The 12-month requirement

An employee must work for the company for at least a year in order to be eligible for FMLA. What if the year anniversary takes place during the time the employee wants leave?
Answer: The employee must complete a year of work before the leave starts.
That’s the conclusion of one recent court case. Ten months after he started working, an employee was injured and requested leave starting immediately. His employer refused, because he was still two months shy of being eligible.
He sued, claiming he’d become eligible while on leave, and the first two months of time off would be “transformed” into FMLA-qualifying leave.
The court disagreed: To be eligible, an employee must have worked for 12 months before the leave was set to start.
Cite: Adly v. Supervalue, Inc.