The United States has no federally mandated paid leave programs for employees, but a quarter of US states (14 to be exact) offer their own leave programs. Montana isn’t one of them, at least not yet.
For now, Montana employers are only obligated to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If you employ people in Montana, keep reading to learn how FMLA works and what your responsibilities are.
Employee leave laws in Montana
Montana doesn’t require employers to give their workers any form of paid leave, be it parental leave, disability leave, bereavement leave, sick days, or vacation time. Instead, the law leaves it up to employers to decide which benefits to offer employees.
Only eligible state government workers can accrue annual paid leave (usually between 15 and 24 days a year) to use for vacation and sick days. But all private-sector workers in Montana have just two options when they need extended time off work for serious personal or family matters:
Use employer-provided vacation or sick time (if they have it)
Take unpaid leave under FMLA (if they qualify)
How does FMLA leave work?
FMLA leave guarantees eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off when they need it. The federal law only applies to employers who employ at least 50 employees in 20 or more workweeks throughout the calendar year. Businesses with smaller workforces don’t have to abide by FMLA.
There are four qualifying reasons people can take FMLA leave:
To bond with a child (including newborn, adopted, and fostered children)
To care for a family member (including spouses, children, and parents) dealing with a serious health condition
To manage a serious personal health condition
To manage affairs when a family member (including spouses, children, and parents) is on or called to active duty
And there are four eligibility criteria employees have to meet to qualify for leave:
Need time off for bonding, caregiving, medical, or military leave
Work for a covered employer for at least 12 months, consecutively or non-consecutively
Work at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before leave begins
Work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles
How to comply with federal leave laws
If you’re a covered employer under FMLA, whether you’re based in Montana or another state, you’re responsible for three ongoing tasks:
1. Notifying employees of their leave rights
Here’s what you have to do:
Hang a sign. Post the official FMLA poster from the US Department of Labor (DOL) in a visible spot in your workplace so employees can regularly read it. The poster covers qualifying leave situations, leave eligibility criteria, employee rights, and instructions on how to file a claim with the Wage and Hour Division.
Tell new hires about their leave rights. Give written notice to every new employee you hire letting them know what FMLA is and how much they need to work to qualify.
Send written notice to employees who become eligible for FMLA. You can use one of these DOL forms to tell employees they’re eligible for leave and explain how to request leave (with 30 days of notice).
2. Review leave requests
Employees don’t apply for FMLA leave through the DOL; they request leave directly through their employers. You’re responsible for reviewing their leave requests, determining whether or not they’re eligible, requesting leave certification, and officially approving or denying their leave.
To do that, you need to distribute two different forms:
Rights and Responsibilities Notice: This form indicates the reason your employee needs to take leave, confirms their eligibility, tells them whether or not they’re required to provide certification for their leave, and lists out their rights and responsibilities with FMLA leave. This form is due to your employee within five days of their request for leave.
Designation Notice: This form officially approves an FMLA leave request, and breaks down an employee’s leave details and protections. You’ll check different boxes indicating whether or not you’ll require employees to use their paid time off (PTO) or sick time during leave, and whether you’ll require employees to take certain steps when returning to work. This form is due to your employee before they take leave.
3. Keep paying employees’ health insurance during leave
Federal law requires covered FMLA employers to continue paying employees’ health insurance during leave. You might need to adjust your payroll calculations, but make sure to keep up your portion of premiums.
It’s also important to let your employees know whether they’ll be required to continue paying their portion of health insurance premiums during leave and whether or not they need to use PTO during leave.
4. Reinstate employees to their jobs
FMLA leave is job-protected, meaning your employees are entitled to return to their same positions when leave is over. If for some reason you can’t maintain an employee’s role, you need to give them a job that’s comparable to their old one in every way: title, duties, compensation, benefits, work location, and work schedule.
4. Hold onto your paperwork
You know the drill: keep every form and document related to leave. Not only do you need timesheets and payroll records to confirm employee leave eligibility, but you also need evidence of your compliance in case an employee makes a claim against you.
To that end, hold onto:
Employment contracts
Employee contact information
Employee job classification
Job start date
Copy of written FMLA notice
Timesheets
Payroll receipts
Documentation of employees requesting leave
Copy of FMLA Rights and Responsibilities Notice
Copy of FMLA Designation Notice
Leave certification paperwork
How to give your employees paid leave
Providing your employees with paid leave, however minimal, has long-term benefits for them and for your operation. After all, every business benefits from employing healthy, happy people who engage in their work and care about the company they work for.
And giving people leave during big life events isn’t just a decent thing to do; it’s literally transformative. With time and financial support, employees’ physical and mental health improves, which can positively affect their work performance and output, too.
If you want to offer some type of paid leave in your workplace, follow these basic steps:
1. Reflect and research
Consider your employee demographic’s needs. What could you offer that would best support them and their families? Once you have a better idea of your goals with offering paid leave, research what other states offer.
Colorado, for example, offers up to 12 weeks of paid Neonatal Care Leave to employees whose children have to spend time in the NICU after birth, on top of the 12 paid weeks they receive for bonding leave. Maryland will give eligible employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave, with payments of up to $1,000 a week starting in 2028.
2. Look at your bottom line
To support Montana-based employees, you can either pay for family/medical leave out of your company’s pocket or purchase employee leave insurance through a private insurer. That’s the option most small businesses go for, since it gives you the chance to split premiums with your employees.
3. Draft your official paid leave policy
What you can afford to spend on paid leave insurance dictates how much time and wage replacement you can offer employees. Once you know your finances, nail down the details, including:
What exactly constitutes a leave
Which types of leave are available (parental, caregiving, and medical leaves are most common)
How many weeks employees can take leave (six weeks is the bare minimum, and many states average 12 weeks)
The eligibility requirements for leave (aim to include all employees, regardless of their gender, family structure, or length of service in your company),
How FMLA interacts with your leave policy
How and when to request a leave
Whether or not employees need to provide certification for their leave
Explanation of how leave review and approval works
What protections employees will be afforded during leave (e.g., job protection through FMLA or continued health insurance)
How much employees will be paid during leave and when they’ll receive payments (most state programs provide 50-90% of an employee’s usual wages each week)
When employees need to opt into paid leave insurance premiums, and how much they'll have to contribute
Confidentiality during leave, especially with regard to employee medical information
Expectations and reasonable accommodations upon returning from leave
Here’s a leave policy template to help you get started.
4. Inform your workforce
Talk to managers and leaders first, so they know how to enforce your new leave policy and guide their direct reports to request leave. Then update the rest of your employees. Sending out a revised employee handbook is a great idea, but it would also be helpful to hold a company-wide meeting or HR office hours session to answer questions.
Montana business resources
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