Medical experts usually say the average person can live for 4 to 6 weeks without food. The amount of time someone can go without water is much shorter, roughly a week (or less).
Your employer can force you to take leave at a particular time as long as they give you at least two weeks' notice. However, it is common for employer and employee to come to an agreement about the timing of annual leave. If you put in a request for leave, your employer has to have a good reason to refuse it.
Employee Notice Requirements. The FMLA requires employees to give notice of their need to take FMLA leave. Here are some of the changes the new regulations make to these requirements: The new regulations require employees to give notice 30 days in advance if their need for FMLA leave is foreseeable, just as the old regulations did.