Can You Contact Employees on Family Medical Leave? Here's What You Need to Know
Your project manager is on FMLA leave. A critical client asks about a deliverable only she knows about. Your operations lead needs a password to access a system before the employee returns.
Can you call them?
The short answer: maybe. But you need to tread carefully.
The Legal Framework
Both federal FMLA (covering employers with 50+ employees) and California's CFRA (covering employers with 5+ employees) give eligible employees 12 weeks of job-protected leave for qualifying reasons. Both laws also make it illegal to "interfere with, restrain, or deny" an employee's protected leave rights.
That's where things get tricky. There's no bright-line rule about contacting employees during leave, which means employers are left navigating a gray area between legitimate business needs and potential legal violations.
What the Courts Have Said
Good news first: a few brief, work-related communications probably won't get you in trouble. Courts have generally found that quick calls to locate a file, get a password, find client information, or obtain a status update don't rise to the level of interference.
One court put it plainly: "Fielding occasional calls about one's job while on leave is a professional courtesy that does not abrogate or interfere with the exercise of the employee's FMLA rights." (Reilly v. Revlon, Inc.)
But there's a line. And crossing it can be costly.
Federal appeals courts have drawn a clear distinction between "nondisruptive communications, such as short phone calls requesting the employee to pass on institutional knowledge or property as a professional courtesy" versus "requiring the employee to complete work-related tasks or produce work product." (Massey-Diez v. Univ. of Iowa Cmty. Med. Servs., Inc.)
Translation: Asking where something is? Fine. Asking them to actually do work? Not fine.
The Golden Rule
Here's your guideline: The more time it takes the employee to respond to your question, the more likely you're interfering with their leave rights.
Need to know where a file is saved? Probably okay.
Need them to finish a report, attend a meeting, or handle an ongoing task? That's interference.
Best Practices for Managers
Default to no contact. If it can wait until they're back, let it wait.
Keep it brief. If you absolutely must reach out, make it one specific question with a quick answer. Not a conversation. Not a check-in. Not "while I have you..."
Stick to administrative matters. Location of files, passwords, contact information—things that help the business function without requiring the employee to actually work.
Document your reasoning. If you contact someone on leave, note why it was necessary and what was discussed. This protects you if questions come up later.
Train Your Team
The biggest risk isn't HR making a mistake—it's a well-meaning manager who doesn't understand the rules. Make sure your supervisors know:
Employees on FMLA/CFRA leave have strong legal protections
What types of contact are appropriate (and what aren't)
When to loop in HR before reaching out
The potential consequences of interference claims
The Reality
We get it. Work doesn't stop when someone goes on leave. Projects still have deadlines. Clients still have questions. Systems still need passwords.
But the safest approach is this: if you're asking yourself whether it's okay to contact someone on leave, the answer is probably to find another way. Check with a coworker. Search the shared drive. Wait until they return.
And if you absolutely can't wait? Keep it short, keep it administrative, and keep HR in the loop.