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Idaho Military Family Leave Notice

April 9th, 2008 Posted by Amelia

The new NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) expands FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for eligible military families.

Every employer in Idaho and across the nation should be aware that the NDAA requires them to post the new Military Family Leave notice.

President George W. Bush signed the NDAA into effect on January 28, 2008, which allowed families to take leave as of that date. The final NDAA regulations have yet to be issued, but until the Secretary of Labor publishes the final ones, employers are asked to “act in good faith” and grant leave to eligible military families.

The extended FMLA allows family members of active military, National Guard and Reserve personnel who are called to active duty, to take leave to care for that person when ill or injured. Included within the NDAA definitions of treatment are mental and physical therapy, outpatient treatments and care for military personnel temporarily disabled due to illness or injury.

The new NDAA also amends the definition of family. Prior to the signing of the 2008 NDAA, “family” was defined as parent, spouse or child. The extended FMLA adds in-laws, cousins, aunts and uncle to that definition in some cases, as the “next-of-kin.”

A second benefit of the extended FMLA is to allow these family members to stand in for military personnel on active duty. For instance, Reservist Joe is called to active duty, but has no one to take care of his kids. His wife could take FMLA leave to care for Joe’s children. Another example is Dave, an Army tank driver. His wife is ill. While he’s on active duty, his cousin Janice could take FMLA leave to care for Dave’s wife.

Enforcement of this new NDAA law comes under the U. S. Department of Labor, specifically the Wage and Hour Division. A poster of this new NDAA Military Family Leave must be permanently posted in a spot visible to all workers. This new poster is in addition to state and federal posters already required. Companies who do not immediately comply with this law will face penalties.

In January of 2008, President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which will expand the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act). The FMLA was enacted in 1993 and has not been updated until the NDAA.

The FMLA was a groundbreaking federal law providing employees with a serious illness up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave. When the worker returned, the employer had to provide the worker with the same job, or one with similar wages, working atmosphere, duties and benefits.

FMLA could be used for personal illness and so the employee could care for a seriously ill parent, spouse or child. Also, FMLA could be taken to care for a newborn, a newly fostered child (under age 18) or for a newly adopted child.

Prior to FMLA, an employee that grew ill and had to miss a lot of work often got fired. Company policies regarding extended absences for illness (heart attack, surgery, etc.) varied widely. Most situations were handled on a case by case basis. More often than not, if an employee missed more than a couple weeks of work, he or she was simply fired.

FMLA has some eligibility requirements. Businesses must employ 50 or more workers within 75 miles of the work site. Workers must have been with the company for the previous 12 consecutive months, and worked at least 1,250 hours.

According to the U. S. Department of Labor, the NDAA will expand FMLA leave, but the regulations are not yet finalized. Publication of the expanded FMLA regulations should occur in the near future.

Two changes were published on February 11, 2008. The Labor Department issued revisions in the FMLA certification process and in the time frame for employers to notify workers of their FMLA rights.

In addition, a major change has been made to the process of reporting absences. Prior to the revisions, employees did not have to report an FMLA absence in advance. The new changes will require workers to follow standard procedure for taking leave, which usually means notifying the employer prior to the beginning of a shift.