labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A new law signed by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009 expands FMLA for military families even more than the NDAA or National Defense Authorization Act of 2008.

This change in the law will require every employer to update the Military Caregiver poster, even if they do not have any employees who qualify.

The  National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 provides for two  major changes to current FMLA regulations: 

• Families of Armed Forces members on active duty are covered, not just family members of the National Guard and Reserve
•  Military caregiver leave is expanded to cover the families of some veterans 

It appears that these changes are retroactive, according to Matthew Effland, an Indianapolis attorney specializing in FMLA issues.

Active Duty Included

Under the new law, when a member of the Armed Forces is deployed to a foreign country, his or her spouse, son, daughter, parent, step-child, or step-parent can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected FMLA leave for any “qualifying exigency.”

Many employers have already been granting this leave to military families, and not just the families of Reserve or National Guard members who are called to active duty. In fact, it is unclear why the U.S. Department of Labor interpreted the original law so narrowly in the final days of the second Bush administration.

Under the current regulations, qualifying exigencies include attending military-sponsored functions, making appropriate financial and legal arrangements, handling details of a short-notice deployment, attending counseling, and making alternate childcare arrangements. In addition, an employee can take up to 5 days of FMLA for rest and recreation or R&R under the law. The employee can also use FMLA up to 90 days following deployment for arrival ceremonies, post-deployment ceremonies and other military events.

Military Caregiver Leave Expanded to Veterans

The NDAA also permits an employee who is the son, daughter, spouse, or parent to take up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected FMLA during a 12-month period to provide care for a service member who has been injured or contracted a disease in the line of duty.

This extended FMLA leave also applies to the injured soldier’s next-of-kin, regardless of the relationship. This means in some cases that an in-law, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin could qualify for military caregiver leave.

The new law permits the (more…)

 “This Memorial Day, I want to take the opportunity to highlight the steadfast commitment of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to protecting the rights of America’s service members, who have made invaluable sacrifices for this nation,” says Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice or DOJ.

The Civil Rights Division of the DOJ protects the rights of service men and women by vigorously enforcing a number of laws designed to protect them and their families. Those include the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 or USERRA. The right to vote while serving in the armed services is protected by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act or UOCAVA.  Financial security is protected by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003 or SCRA. In addition, the rights of veterans in public institutions are protected by the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act or CRIPA.

Memorial Day is a great time for every employer to review their company’s compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act or USERRA.

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