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Utah Military Family Leave Notice

April 10th, 2008 Posted by Amelia

On January 28, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the HR 4986 the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A provision of the NDAA expands the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for military families in some cases, including families of National Guard and Reserve personnel who are on active duty.

Under the NDAA, every employer in Utah and nationwide must post the Military Family Leave notice.

The law went into effect immediately, so employers must grant leave to family members who need to care for an injured solider, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Before this NDAA, family was defined by FMLA as parent, spouse or child. The 2008 NDAA extends this definition to also include aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws.

The 2008 NDAA updates the FMLA rules, so employers are required to immediately post a notice of this new Military Family Leave in a permanent position, visible to all employees. The U. S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is in charge of enforcing this law. Any employer who does not comply will face penalties.

One of the points of expanding the FMLA is to allow families to care for a son, daughter or spouse who is active military, National Guard or Reserve and is under medical care. Treatments covered under the FMLA included mental or physical therapy, outpatient treatments and care for personnel who are temporarily disabled due to illness or injury.

The other point of expanding the FMLA is to allow family members to stand in for military personnel who are caring for others. To illustrate, consider a single father called to active duty. One of his family members could take FMLA leave in order to care for his healthy children. Or consider a soldier whose wife is ill. Family members could take FMLA to care for her while he’s on active duty.

Though the law went into effect in January, not all of the NDAA regulations have been finalized. Until the Secretary of Labor issues the final regulations, employers are expected to “act in good faith” and grant leave to eligible military families.

In the beginning of 2008, President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. The 2008 NDAA will expand FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) for the first time since its enactment in 1993.

Final NDAA regulations, however, have not been published. The U. S. Department of Labor hopes to issues these regulations in the near future.

Two changes went into effect on February 11, 2008. The medical certification process was updated, and the time frame allowed for employers to notify workers of their FMLA rights was revised.

One major change revises the procedure for reporting an FMLA absence. Prior to the updates, a worker did not have to give advance notice before taking time off. The new revisions will require workers to follow their company’s “usual and customary” procedure for taking leave. Usually, that means the employee must notify the company prior to the beginning of his or her shift.

These changes clarify an already ground-breaking law. The FMLA guarantees workers with a serious illness that they can take leave (unpaid, up to 12 weeks per year) and still have a job. If an employee develops an illness, he or she can take leave and still have a job when they return. Usually it’s the same job, but can also be a position with comparable pay, benefits, working conditions and duties.

FMLA can be used, too, so employees can care for family members (child, parent or spouse) with a serious illness. Plus, caring for a newborn child, a child newly adopted or a child newly fostered can be charged to FMLA leave.

Prior to FMLA, if a worker took time off for an illness, he or she usually got fired. Companies handled each case individually, and policies varied widely among employers.

Now employees are guaranteed a job, but not all employees are eligible for FMLA. Companies must have 50 or more workers within a 75 mile radius of the work location, and employees must have logged at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months at that company.