Family and Medical Leave Act
Built by the Tribune's code from the Federal Register. No AI wrote this page. Published in the Federal Register Oct. 15, 2026. Document 2026-21104. Updated Nov. 5, 2026.
- What it does
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a direct final rule making technical revisions to OPM's Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations to incorporate various statutory amendments. The rule reflects statutory changes making virtually all Federal civilian service and certain honorable active military service qualify for determining FMLA eligibility, making clear that annual and sick leave provided under an authority outside of title 5, United States Code, may be substituted for unpaid FMLA leave, and excluding certain Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employees from title 5 FMLA coverage.
The Personnel Management Office's summary, as published in the Federal Register.
- What changed in the regulation
1 part of Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations:
- Compared with
The Personnel Management Office has published 29 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 14 in all of 2025.
Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.
- Before this
No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 3206-AP18 since Jan. 1, 2025.
- What happens next and when
This rule is effective December 14, 2026, unless significant adverse comments are received by November 16, 2026. If significant adverse comments are received, OPM will withdraw the affected provisions of this rule and issue a notice of proposed rulemaking.
The agency's dates, word for word.
The record as published
| Document number | 2026-21104 |
|---|---|
| Action | Direct final rule. |
| Agencies | Personnel Management Office |
| Published | Oct. 15, 2026 |
| Effective date | Dec. 14, 2026 |
| Comments close | Nov. 16, 2026 |
| Regulation identifier (RIN) | 3206-AP18 |
| Docket | OPM-2026-0463 |
Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register