labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The U.S. Department of Labor issued new regulations for all employers this week regarding military family leave. The updated regulations go into effect on January 17, 2009 although employers would be wise to implement them sooner. This is the most significant expansion of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, in 15 years.

Under the new regulations, every employer must display a Military Leave Poster prominently in the workplace. This is just the first step that employers must take to inform workers of their rights under this new law.

Under the new federal regulations, employers must provide up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected Military Caregiver Leave in a 12-month period to family members who are caring for a covered service member injured on active duty. The law also applies to family members who are caring for a soldier who has an illness incurred in the line of duty, on active duty.

The new guidelines permit the soldier’s next of kin to take unpaid leave to care for him or her. This may include aunts, grandmothers, in-laws, siblings, cousins and other relatives. This is unlike normal FMLA leave, which is limited to immediate family members such as son or daughter, spouse, and parents.

The new regulations also permit FMLA leave for the families of National Guard and National Reserve members who are called to active service. The family members are permitted to take leave to manage their affairs for a variety of purposes, including:

• Deployment with short notice
• Military events and related activities
• Childcare and school activities
• Financial and legal arrangements
• Counseling
• Rest and recuperation or R&R
• Additional activities where the employer and employee agree to the leave  

Earlier this year, congress passed a bill expanding FMLA or federal Family and Medical Leave to 26 weeks for military families, and the president signed it into law. However, until this week, the U.S. Department of Labor had issued no guidelines on the law. Employers were left in the unenviable position of having to follow regulations that had not yet been written. Little, if any, guidance was available from federal agencies on this benefit.

The latest regulations clarify the rules surrounding military family leave, and also change a number of existing FMLA rules.

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