Prior service counts toward FMLA eligibility.

The FMLA provides unpaid leave for childbirth, serious health conditions and military deployment. To be eligible for job-protected FMLA leave, employees must have worked for you for at least one year and for 1,250 hours in the preceding year.

But take note of this important point: The minimum one-year service requirement doesn't have to be met by a single, uninterrupted 52-week period. It can be satisfied by adding together work performed for a temp service or service that was interrupted by some other reason.

Recent case: An employee at a Louisiana manufacturer claimed she was fired while she was hospitalized for a serious health condition, even though she was eligible for FMLA leave.

The U.S. Department of Labor investigated and found that the woman had worked for the company as a...