labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Under federal regulations that went into effect in February, every employer is required to prominently display a Military Leave Notice. The poster explains the leave for military families available under NDAA.

As of January 28, 2008, relatives of National Guard and Reserve personnel on active duty will be eligible to take up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected FMLA leave. The provision also covers families of active military personnel.

The law went into effect immediately, so companies are required to grant leave to family members to care for an injured soldier. Previously, under the FMLA the definition of family member was limited to parent, spouse or child, but the 2008 NDAA includes “next of kin”, which could include aunts, uncles, cousins and in-laws to be eligible for FMLA leave.

This provision comes as a part of HR 4986 the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which President George W. Bush signed into law on January 28, 2008. This law expands the FMLA (Family Medical and Leave Act) from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for military families.

FMLA, NDAA and the Military Leave Notice

The Family Medical and Leave Act of 1990 allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12 month period for certain personal reasons. This leave is job-protected, but unpaid. If democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton is elected, she wants to amend FMLA to be paid leave. Ms. Clinton’s plan would require companies to carry insurance for each worker to provide for this paid time off.

Employers already incur costs with FMLA, even though the leave is unpaid. First, a replacement for that worker must be hired and trained. Second, the business is required to continue to pay its share of the employee’s benefits. Third, productivity levels can be reduced, because the returning worker takes time to regain his or her previous level of performance.

Amending the FMLA will cost employers even more.

Not all employers, or employees, are covered by FMLA. Companies must employee more than 50 workers in a 75 mile radius. Workers are usually required to have logged at least 1,250 hours for that employer over the prior 12 months to be eligible for FMLA.

Not all scenarios are covered by FMLA, either. The current Act allows employees to charge their leave to FMLA for the birth of a child, bringing a new foster child (under the age of 18) into the home, and for adopting a child. Caring for an ill family member may also be charged to FMLA. Under the Act, family member includes child, parent or spouse, but not in-laws, siblings or grandparents. Domestic partners are also not covered by FMLA.

Plus, not all states handle FMLA in the same manner. Some, like California have already enacted state legislation where employees can be paid for FMLA leave. Hawaii adds grandparents, in-laws and domestic partners to the definition of family members, and several states extend the leave beyond 12 weeks.

All employers, however, must provide the employee with a job upon returning from FMLA. That job must either be the same position or a job with similar working conditions, pay and benefits.

The point of the expanded FMLA is to allow a parent, daughter, son or spouse to care for a member of active military, National Guard or Reserve under medical treatment. Included are mental or physical therapy, outpatient treatments and caring for military personnel on temporary disability as the result of illness or injury.

In addition, the new NDAA allows family members to take FMLA leave to stand in for soldier called to active duty. The family member can stand in for the soldier on deployment as a substitute for persons under that soldier’s care. For example, a parent of a deployed soldier could take FMLA leave to help care for that soldier’s ill spouse, or to take care of the healthy children.

Enforcing the new law comes under the U. S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. Unfortunately, all the regulations of the NDAA have not yet been finalized. Until the Secretary of Labor issues final regulations, the NDAA isn’t technically in effect. Until that time, the U. S. Department of Labor expects employers to “act in good faith” and grant FMLA leave to eligible military families.

Alabama employers need to be aware that many changes in labor laws occurred during 2007, and will occur in 2008. As a result, these employers will need to update their labor law posters. The coming New Year is a good time to ensure posters are current.

One of the major changes during 2007 related to minimum wage. The federal minimum wage, as a result of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, went from $5.15 to $5.58 per hour. Nearly a dozen states increased their minimum wage on the same day.

Also, during the 2007, several other states, including Utah, Washington, Oregon, and West Virginia increased their state minimum wage.

The complete list of 2008 Alabama labor law posters that every employer should have includes:

• Workers’ Compensation
• Workers’ Compensation Fraud Notice
• Alabama Child Labor
• Unemployment Insurance

In addition, federal law requires all employers in Alabama to display up-to-date copies of the following posters:

• USERRA - Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
• IRS Withholding Notice
• Payday Notice
• Anti-Discrimination Notice
• Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law
• Federal Minimum Wage
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• OSHA-Job Safety & Health Protection

Both state and federal law require that every employer prominently display the posters in an area where they can been seen by every employee. Popular locations are a bulletin board, near the time clock or in the break room.

The most common reason for employers to update posters includes statute changes, especially to minimum wage laws. In just the past few months, employers in New Hampshire, Nevada and Maine have updated their labor law posters as the state minimum wages changed. The most recent increase was on October 1, 2007 when the New Hampshire minimum wage increased to $6.50 per hour.

A number of changes in 2008 will require employers to update their posters during the year.  The federal minimum wage will jump from $5.85 to $6.55 on July 24, 2008. On the same day, the states that raised their minimum with the last bump in the federal minimum wage will enact increases again.

More than a dozen states will increase their minimum wages on January 1, 2008. These include Delaware, Oregon, Washington, California, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Vermont, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Montanan and Ohio. The lowest rates to be increased is in Montana, where the state minimum wage will increase from $6.15 per hour to $6.26. In Missouri and New Mexico, the state rate will go to $6.50.

After the increase, the nation’s highest minimum wage will be in Washington state, where the minimum wage will be $8.07 per hour. Both California and Massachusetts plan increases to $8.00 per hour, while the state rate in Oregon goes to $7.95.

Smoking in the workplace was another changed that took place in 2007. Both Illinois and Ohio enacted new, tough laws banning smoking at work. Ohio employers had to post no-smoking signs at every workplace, at every entrance. In Illinois, the ban on smoking extends to nearly every place of employment, including casinos, bars and restaurants.

In Alaska a smoking related change was made to the Child Labor Laws regarding selling cigarettes. The law currently bans anyone under the age of 19 from buying cigarettes, but until October, teens could work at establishments such as gas stations and convenient stores which sold cigarettes. Concern arose that these teens when working alone, could sell cigarettes to underage pals. Partly due to this concern, the law was amended to also prohibit anyone under the age of 19 from selling cigarettes.

If companies and businesses haven’t already made the relevant changes to their 2008 labor law posters, they should do so as soon as possible. If the information isn’t updated, the employers could be considered in violation of the law and subject to a fine.

Employers need to verify that their poster explaining how the Alabama USERRA operates is up-to-date. Some recent changes will impact workers in Alabama. For instance, a change made recently to USERRA, which is the 1994 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, makes it so that federal government employees can now file claims with VETS, which is the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.

USERRA helps to protect the civilian jobs of members of the Navy, Army, and Air Force Reserve and the jobs of veterans. This protection lasts up to 5 years, which is a cumulative total. The way it works is if a soldier serves three years and later serves two more years, his or her 5 year limit is reached.

Now is a great time for every employer to update their Alabama USERRA poster. Additional protection is given by USERRA to disabled veterans. Reasonable job accommodations are required of the employers of disabled veterans. Moreover, if a soldier is injured, even if that injury happens during training, the soldier has two additional years to return to his or her job.

Health care coverage is also addressed by the USERRA regulations. After a military worker has been on duty for over 30 days, he or she can decide to utilize the health care offered by the military. Both the soldier and his or her family can adopt this health coverage.

For up to two years, soldiers instead can keep the health care coverage provided by their civilian employers. In this case, the soldiers are responsible for the full amount of the premium. That means, they have to pay not only their share of the premium, but also the employer’s share. In addition, the soldiers are responsible for any processing fees, so soldiers who take this approach can end up paying 102% of the premium total for their health insurance.

Before soldiers reach the 30 day mark where they qualify for military health care, their civilian employers need to provide health care coverage as if the soldier were still an employee.

To remind workers about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), employers should display an Alabama FMLA poster at all jobsites. There is no better time to think about this Alabama law than right now in the days between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The Alabama Family and Medical Leave Act can comfort employees who experience a major life event and need some time away from work.

The Alabama FMLA poster explains how the law works and should appear at all workplaces throughout the state. By reading the poster, employees can learn about the basics of the FMLA program. Employees will find on this poster information about the benefits and eligibility requirements of the program.

School teachers and public employees are covered by the Alabama FMLA regardless of how many employees work for their employer. In the case of other workers in the state, any business that has 50 or more workers employed must follow FMLA regulations.

What the FMLA does is help protect the jobs of workers when a special circumstance arises and the workers need to take some time off without pay. FMLA allows workers to take off as much as 12 weeks a year if they meet certain requirements. Some of the circumstances that qualify for this time off are the birth or adoption of a child.A major illness impacting the employee or a close family member also qualifies the employee for FMLA leave.

Although the Alabama FMLA does help workers, job protection isn’t automatic. Employees need to take precautions. For instance, employers should give employees who take leave a written notification that explains what the employee’s status is. Also included in this written notification should be instructions on how often and in what manner the employee should contact the employer. Keeping in touch with the employer is vital, and employees should make certain they follow all instructions and meet all deadlines.

We’re back on a very familiar subject now—one that is very near and dear to my heart, and I’m sure to yours as well. It’s the State and Labor Law Poster, the information poster that keeps employers within the letter of the law and employees informed and reminded of their responsibilities, duties, and protections under state and federal law.

We’ve covered many a State and Labor Law Poster here in this blog, at least once for every state in the Union, as well as entries for the State and Labor Law Poster for Puerto Rico and a State and Labor Law Poster for the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. So what’s left to discuss here about the State and Labor Law Poster.

Well, there’s a lot. We can never cover this topic too much, for the main reason that the State and Labor Law Poster is a big part of employer and labor law in this country. Nearly every employer, no matter what state you’re in, must have at least one State and Labor Law Poster in every work site that they operate. And they can’t just stick the State and Labor Law Poster in a storage closet and call it a day.

No, the State and Labor Law Poster must be placed somewhere in the office where all employees will pass by, and have the chance to read if they so choose.

And we all know that the State and Labor Law Poster is a simple concept, but in practice, it can get pretty complicated. The six federal postings in the State and Labor Law Poster are virtually static and the same across the United States, but when it comes to state postings in the State and Labor Law Poster, they are different for every place we’ve looked at. How can you know if you need five state postings, of 14, in your State and Labor Law Poster? That’s why you come to this blog, right?