President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 on Oct. 28, 2009, expanding the 2008 NDAA bill and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 in terms of military-related leave.
Under the FMLA, eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave during a 12-month period due to qualifying exigencies, such as a serious injury or illness; the law says spouses, children or parents are considered covered military members. The 2008 NDAA amended FMLA to allow up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during a 12-month period to care for a family member of the Reserves or National Guard.
The new amendments to the FMLA under the 2010 NDAA extend qualifying exigency leave protection to families of active-duty service members deployed abroad in the regular armed forces. The person must be on active duty, or must have been notified of an impending call or order to active duty, in support of a contingency operation.
Prior to the NDAA 2010, this type of leave was not available to individuals whose spouses, children or parents were in the regular armed forces. It was available only to workers whose family members were in the reserves or the National Guard.
The FMLA expansion also provides family members with the time necessary to handle specific personal affairs of the service members. Qualifying exigencies under NDAA 2010 are broadened to include: time needed for counseling; short-notice deployment, defined as seven or fewer days of notice; rest and recuperation; certain post-deployment activities, such as attending arrival ceremonies; financial and legal arrangements; official military-sponsored events and related activities; and certain child care and school activities, including establishing alternative child care. In addition, FMLA covers any further event the employer and staff member agree comprises a qualifying exigency.
The NDAA 2010 also amended FMLA to create military caregiver leave protections for family members of injured veterans. This type of protection activates the 26-week entitlement under the FMLA. An eligible employee is able to take up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for a spouse, child, parent or next of kin who is a veteran of the armed forces. The veteran must have been a member of the armed forces, or called to active duty in the reserves or National Guard, within five years prior to the date of his therapy, medical treatment or recuperation for a serious injury or illness. The five-year time span enables FMLA leave for employees to care for a service member who has left the military and/or has an injury or illness that may take months or years to manifest. Also covered would be a veteran whose injury or illness happened before his active deployment and was aggravated by active duty service.
Companies need to communicate the amendments to laborers who may be entitled immediately to FMLA leave. New posters should be displayed, and managers must be trained concerning the amendments. Be sure to update forms, policies and procedures. In addition, FMLA now requires that all of the information in the Department of Labor’s FMLA notice – available at www.dol.gov – be in employer handbooks.
Lynne Haggerman, M.S., is president/owner of Lynne Haggerman & Associates LLC, a Springfield firm specializing in management training, retained search, outplacement and human resource consulting. She can be reached at lynne@lynnehaggerman.com.[[In-content Ad]]
