NEW LAW EXPANDS FMLA LEAVE FOR MILITARY FAMILY
MEMBERS
On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (NDAA). Among other things, the
NDAA expands the benefits of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)
to assist service members and their families. Importantly, this new
legislation modifies the FMLA in two ways by providing “caregiver” and
“active duty” leave.
Caregiver leave. Effective immediately, the spouse, child, parent, or
next of kin (defined as the nearest “blood relative”) of a “covered servicemember” is now entitled to a total of 26 workweeks of leave to
care for the servicemember. Under the new provisions of the FMLA, a
“covered servicemember” is defined as a servicemember “undergoing
medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in an
outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired
list, for a serious injury or illness.” A “serious injury or illness” is
defined as a condition that may render a servicemember “medically unfit
to perform the duties of the member’s office, grade, rank, or rating.”
This new caregiver leave is only available during a single 12-month
period, and the 26-week limit would include any leave granted under the
new active duty leave discussed in the next paragraph.
Active duty leave. The new active duty leave provides an additional
qualifying event for an employee to take FMLA leave. Specifically, this
new basis for FMLA leave is for a “qualifying exigency” that arises from
the fact that the employee’s spouse, child or parent is on active duty
or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty.
Unlike the caregiver leave provision discussed above, this provision of
the NDAA is not effective until the Secretary of Labor issues final
regulations defining the term “qualifying exigency.” In the meantime,
however, the Department of Labor is encouraging all employers to
voluntarily extend this leave to qualifying employees.
The full text of this new legislation can be accessed at the Department
of Labor’s web site:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/NDAA_fmla.htm
Information for our friends
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