• A broken leg may qualify as a serious health condition under FMLA regulations.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law requiring employers to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year for certain reasons. Among the reasons you can take leave in accordance with the FMLA is to attend to a serious health condition affecting yourself or an immediate family member. The condition must require inpatient care in a hospital or hospice or continuing treatment -- usually over at least three consecutive days -- by a health care provider.
  
  

Illness

• Long-term illnesses such as cancer are among the illnesses that qualify you for FMLA leave, especially during periods when the disease or treatment leaves you unable to work. Even common illnesses, such as the flu, may allow you to take leave in rare instances. To meet FMLA guidelines, such illnesses must require at least three consecutive days of recovery, as well as at least two appointments with a health care provider. Alternatively, recovery may span at least three days and include one appointment with a provider, along with a regimen of continuing treatment or therapy.
  
  

Injuries

• Any injury may qualify you for FMLA leave. As with a qualifying illness, it must incapacitate you for at least three consecutive days and require at least two visits to a doctor, or one visit and a continuing regimen of supervised treatment. Unlike with workers' compensation, the injury does not have to take place at work to grant you leave under the FMLA. For FMLA purposes, an injury does not have to qualify as a disability.
  
  

Impairments

• Serious health events such as heart disease or stroke, appendicitis and disorders of the nervous system are issues that may allow you to take FMLA leave. Some chronic impairments, such as disabilities, are more likely to qualify you for leave under the Americans with Disabilities Act, although provisions of the two laws may overlap.
  
  

Chronic Conditions

• Other health conditions that may allow for FMLA leave are not as acute as the sudden onset of an illness or a serious injury. Examples include physical conditions such as asthma and diabetes, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as severe arthritis that may require intensive therapy. Mental conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and emotional disorders such as clinical depression also may allow you to take leave under the FMLA. The conditions must require at least three consecutive days of recovery for you or your immediate family member.