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Arkansas NDAA

February 21st, 2008 Posted by Amelia

Relatives of soldiers are now entitled to 26 weeks of unpaid leave in many circumstances.

The National Defense Authorization Act more than doubles the amount of unpaid FMLA leave to allow relatives to care for injured soldiers or to help care for a child.

FMLA, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, normally allows up to 12 weeks for spouses, parents, sons or daughters. The new federal NDAA law expands that leave to 26 weeks, in Arkansas and other states. Under some circumstances a soldier’s aunts, uncles, or cousins may qualify as well. That’s because NDAA applies to an injured soldier’s “next of kin” regardless of the relationship.

The NDAA also allows spouses, sons, daughters, and parents to take the expanded leave when a family member is called for active military duty or will be deployed soon. This provision, which does not extend to more distant relatives, is likely to be used most by spouses of members of the Reserve or National Guard. However, it also applies to spouses and family members of soldiers in the active military.

The law is very new and went into effect immediately. Families were eligible to begin taking the leave as of January 28, 2008. The U.S. Labor Department is rushing to complete regulations, and more information will be released when it is available. Until then, the Labor Department expects employers to make what it calls a “good faith” effort to comply with the law.

Unlike the traditional FMLA, the new expanded FMLA allows qualifying employees to take the leave to care for healthy children. FMLA normally allows leave to care for sick children, newborns, newly adopted children, or newly added foster children. The expanded FMLA essentially allows spouses and relatives to act on behalf of a National Guard or Reserve member and care for a sick child or parent, or to take care of a healthy child.

The regulations as they stand allow employers to count any part of an employee’s paid leave toward the 12 weeks of FMLA leave, provided the employee is notified in advance of this policy. Presumably this will also be true of the new expanded leave for military families.

President Bush vetoed a similar bill on December 28, 2007, but at the time he said the FMLA portion did not affect his decision to veto. That left the way open to attach the extended FMLA legislation to another bill, and it passed successfully.

Arkansas workers, like workers throughout the U.S., are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, or FMLA.

A new measure called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2008 expands the FMLA for military personnel. Otherwise, the law has not changed since it was first passed. Regulations about the new NDAA have not been finished by the U.S. Labor Department, so details are not clear yet.

The FMLA provides as much as 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period. The time can be used not only if the employee is seriously ill, but if a member of his or her immediate family has serious health problems. Workers can take the time to care for a son, daughter, spouse, or parent, but not a grandparent, in-law, or sibling.

An employee may also take the time off to care for or bond with a newborn child, a newly adopted child, or a new foster child who is under 18 years old. FMLA has become the most common form of “maternity” or “paternity” leave in the country.

Under some conditions employers may count paid leave, including sick time and so-called Paid Time Off, toward a worker’s FMLA time, but only if the employee receives notice before the leave begins, in writing, that the time will be applied.

FMLA leave is “job protected.” That means an employee is entitled to the same job when he or she returns to work. Barring that, workers must be given a job with similar pay, working conditions, benefits, and duties.

The FMLA is limited to firms with 50 workers or more within a 75-mile radius, but 11 states in the U.S. have enlarged FMLA to include smaller companies. They have also increased the range of coverage. In Arkansas, employees may take their time off to care for a seriously ill in-law or grandparent.

Before the Family and Medical Leave Act passed in 1993, it was up to an employer whether to allow a worker to job-protected leave if the employee was seriously ill.