On January 28th, President Bush signed into law a defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986) which expands the Family and Medical Leave Act. Among other things the new law expands FMLA coverage. It requires covered employers to:
1. Permit a “spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin” to take up to 26 workweeks of leave to care for a member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness.” This portion of the law is effective immediately.
2. Permit an employee to take FMLA leave for “any qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that the spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent of the employee is on active duty (or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty) in the Armed Forces.” This portion of the new law isn’t effective until the Department of Labor defines “qualifying exigency” however employers are urged to provide this leave to qualifying employees.
As at least part of this law is effective immediately, it’s important to notify your employees of the changes. You will also need to make changes in your employee handbooks, policy manuals, and related materials. Since this is simply an expansion of the types of leave available under the FMLA it’s important to remember that other FMLA provisions still need to be followed such as notice requirements, substitution of paid leave, reinstatement, etc.
In a somewhat related development The Department of Labor is working on new Family and Medical Leave regulations. Some of the areas expected to be addressed include: requiring employees to call in to request a leave before taking it (unless there are extenuating circumstances), providing guidance regarding the new military related leave discussed above, clarifying medical certifications, reviewing unscheduled leave for chronic conditions, and increasing employee awareness of FMLA rights. The text of the changes is not yet available so we’ll have to wait for more details. But the DOL has recently sent the proposed changes to the Office of Management and Budget. Once approved, they will be published for a 60 day comment period in the Federal Register.