---
title: "Can an Employee Opt Out of Taking FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act Of 1993)?"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/ddb9142a-bfd5-423d-aa7a-ad52c9e1f7b0
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/can-an-employee-opt-out-of-taking-fmla-family-medical-leave-act-of-1993-2716236
category: "Regulation"
topics: ["Regulation & legal"]
published: 2021-07-20T14:09:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:42:30.745Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/5bb1820a34661614f3b83c1817bd8b319350.jpg
---

# Can an Employee Opt Out of Taking FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act Of 1993)?

**TL;DR:** An employee cannot opt out of taking FMLA if they have a need for a leave that falls under an FMLA qualifying reason. The Department of Labor states that the leave must count towards the employee's FMLA allotment.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2021-07-20. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/can-an-employee-opt-out-of-taking-fmla-family-medical-leave-act-of-1993-2716236).*

## Story

The Department of Labor states that an employee cannot opt out of taking FMLA if they have a need for a leave that falls under an FMLA qualifying reason.

That leave must count towards his or her FMLA allotment, even if the employee requests otherwise.

If an employee is asking to opt out of completing the FMLA paperwork, the employer does have the right to deny the employee's request for this FMLA leave if they refuse to complete the certification.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- regulation (topic)
- Department of Labor (regulator)
- FMLA (regulator)
- fmla rule (topic)
- employee leave (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/can-an-employee-opt-out-of-taking-fmla-family-medical-leave-act-of-1993-2716236). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/ddb9142a-bfd5-423d-aa7a-ad52c9e1f7b0).