29 C.F.R. § 825.119

Leave for treatment of substance abuse

Read at: eCFRecfr.gov CornellLII GovInfogovinfo.gov CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) Substance abuse may be a serious health condition if the conditions of §§ 825.113 through 825.115 are met. However, FMLA leave may only be taken for treatment for substance abuse by a health care provider or by a provider of health care services on referral by a health care provider. On the other hand, absence because of the employee's use of the substance, rather than for treatment, does not qualify for FMLA leave.

(b) Treatment for substance abuse does not prevent an employer from taking employment action against an employee. The employer may not take action against the employee because the employee has exercised his or her right to take FMLA leave for treatment. However, if the employer has an established policy, applied in a non-discriminatory manner that has been communicated to all employees, that provides under certain circumstances an employee may be terminated for substance abuse, pursuant to that policy the employee may be terminated whether or not the employee is presently taking FMLA leave. An employee may also take FMLA leave to care for a covered family member who is receiving treatment for substance abuse. The employer may not take action against an employee who is providing care for a covered family member receiving treatment for substance abuse.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2013–2025 · leading case: Bryan Shirley v. Precision Castparts Corp., 726 F.3d 675 (5th Cir. 2013).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Bryan Shirley v. Precision Castparts Corp., 726 F.3d 675 (5th Cir. 2013). “See 29 C.F.R. § 825.119 (b) (”[I]f the employer has an established policy, applied in a non-discriminatory manner that has been communicated to all employees, that provides under certain circumstances an employee may be terminated for substance abuse, pursuant to that policy the…”

Hatfield v. Covenant Med. Grp., Inc. (JRG3) (E.D. Tenn. 2021). · cites it 4× “Employers can terminate employees for the serious health condition of substance abuse “if the employer has an established policy, applied in a non-discriminatory manner that has been communicated to all employees, that provides under certain circumstances an employee may be…”

Iapichino v. Hackensack Univ. Med. Ctr. (D.N.J. 2020). · cites it 3× “29 C.F.R. § 825.119 (b). For example, in an Advisory Opinion, the Department of Labor explained that if an employee tests positive for illegal narcotics through a drug test that was required by a workplace policy and the policy permitted termination for a positive test, that…”

Borella v. Black Hills Surgical Hosp., L.L.P. (D.S.D. 2025). “” 29 C.F.R. § 825.119 . Thus, both the ADA and FMLA recognize alcoholism as a disability and serious health condition.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.