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DCPS: Leave of Absence

The Leave of Absence Team supports employees as they pursue a leave of absence to handle issues that arise in one’s personal life. If you have questions about leave, contact the Leave of Absence Team at [email protected].

DCPS offers the following types of leave of absence:

  • FMLA (Medical): To care for one’s own medical needs
  • FMLA (Family): To care for the medical needs of a covered family member
  • FMLA (Military): To prepare/care for needs arising from military duty or call to action
  • PFML (Paid Family Medical Leave): To pay employee up to 8 weeks when caring for a family member, 2 weeks of which can be used to care for one’s own medical needs
  • Charter school: To serve in a DC charter school
  • Educational: To satisfy personal educational responsibilities
  • Extended leave: To request medical or family care leave when employee is not eligible for FMLA.

Ready to apply? Please ensure that you have your medical certification completed by the attending physician. If you have not already done so, please print out the relevant medical certification form from the link below and have it complete before starting your application.

Download forms here: LOA Medical Certification Forms

Once the medical certification form is completed, start your Leave of Absence Application.

Leave Entitlements

Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML): Provides paid family and medical leave for up to 8 workweeks for qualifying family and parental events, and may include up to 2 of those 8 workweeks for qualifying medical leave events. To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a District employee who is neither a temporary employee appointed for less than 90 days, nor on an intermittent schedule; and
  • Have not yet exhausted 8 weeks of PFML within the last 12-month period beginning on the date of your first qualifying event.

DC FMLA Medical: Provides you up to 16 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a 24-month period for a serious medical condition affecting you. To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a District government employee with at least 12 months of continuous service; and
  • Received pay for at least 1,000 hours within the last 12 months; and
  • Have not exhausted 16 weeks of medical leave in the last 24 months.

DC FMLA Family: Provides you up to 16 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a 24-month period for a qualifying family event. To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a District government employee with at least 12 months of continuous service; and
  • Received pay for at least 1,000 hours within the last 12 months; and
  • Have not exhausted 16 weeks of family leave in the last 24 months.

Federal FMLA: Provides you up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a 12-month

period if you experience a serious health condition or a qualifying family event (including family

military exigency leave). To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a District government employee with at least 12 months of continuous service; and
  • Reported for duty and received pay for 1,250 hours in the last 12 months; and
  • Have not exhausted a total of 12 weeks of family and medical leave (including military caregiver leave), combined, in the last 12 months.

Federal Family and Medical Leave (Military Caregiver Leave): Provides you up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a 12-month period if you are the parent, spouse or child of a service member suffering from a serious health condition that arose while on active duty. To be eligible, you must:

  • Be a District government employee with at least 12 months of continuous service; and
  • Reported for duty and received pay for 1,250 hours in the last 12 months; and
  • Have not exhausted a total of 26 weeks of family and medical leave in the last 12 months.

DCPS Extended Leave of Absence

Employees may be eligible for job-protected Extended Leave of Absence for the following reasons. Note, job-protected leave does not mean that the position you left will be available for you to return to after you return from leave; however, you will be assigned to a position if your last position has been filled.

  • Educational Leave: Under certain union contracts, DCPS may grant employees leave to pursue personal educational responsibilities in a program approved by DCPS. This leave requires supervisor approval. Such employees are entitled to return to DCPS at the conclusion of their leave.
  • Charter School Leave: Pursuant to 5-E DCMR Section 1204, DCPS may grant employees charter school leave for an unlimited number of two-year terms for employees who apply for Charter School leave. This leave requires supervisor approval. Such employees are entitled to return to DCPS at the conclusion of their leave of absence.
  • WTU Service Leave: Pursuant to the WTU contract, permanent teachers may be granted a leave of absence for one school year to serve as a full-time employee of the WTU. Such employees are entitled to return to DCPS at the conclusion of their leave of absence.
  • Military Leave: Pursuant to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and 5-E DCMR Section 1204, military service members must be granted leave to engage in certain types of military activities. At the conclusion of their service, such employees are entitled to be reemployed in the position they would have held but for their military service.

Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA): Pursuant to the ADAAA, DCPS must grant disabled employees reasonable accommodation, which may include unpaid, job-protected ADA leave to address a disabling condition. The amount of leave allowed under the ADAAA is determined on a case-by-case basis. At the conclusion of an ADAAA leave, an employee is entitled to return to work. Supervisors are asked to notify Labor Management & Employee Relations via [email protected] upon receipt of a request for disability accommodation.

Not Job-Protected Leave: Employees may be placed on an Extended Leave of Absence which is not job-protected, without completing an application, for the following reasons:

  • Administrative Leave/Detail During Investigation: An employee being investigated for misconduct should be placed on either Administrative Leave or Detail where retaining the employee on duty may be injurious to the employee, students, or others, until an investigation can be performed and appropriate administrative action determined. At the conclusion of the investigation, the employee may need to be returned to work.
  • Worker’s Compensation: Employees are entitled to leave to address an injury sustained in the workplace. This type of leave is granted, and the duration determined, by the District of Columbia Office of Risk Management, not DCPS. At the conclusion of the leave, the employee may need to be returned to work.

DCPS Paid Family Leave (PFL)

Paid Family Leave (PFL) is job-protected leave category which provides eligible District government employees with up to eight work weeks of paid leave within a 12-month period for the birth or placement of a child with an employee, or to care for a family member. If eligible, PFL will be granted to run concurrently with your approved Family and Medical Leave of Absence and/or Extended Leave of Absence.

* PFL cannot be used for the employee’s own serious health condition. 

In order to be eligible for PFL, the employee must be neither a temporary, intermittent, nor WAE employee and must experience a “qualifying event.”  Qualifying events include the following:

  • Birth of a child
  • Adoption or foster care of a newly placed child
  • To care for a family member (spouse, child, parent)

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