Earlier today US DOL issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement and interpret new statutory amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that expand military family leave provisions and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees.
The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Eligible employees may take up to twelve workweeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period for the birth, adoption or placement of a child, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, or because they are unable to work due to their own serious health condition.
Recent amendments to the FMLA expanded the FMLA’s military caregiver leave and qualifying exigency leave provisions. Military caregiver leave was extended to eligible employees whose family members are recent veterans with serious injuries or illnesses, and expanded the definition of a serious injury or illness to include serious injuries or illnesses that result from preexisting conditions. The amendments also expanded qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees with family members serving in the Regular Armed Forces, and added a requirement that for all qualifying exigency leave the military member must be deployed to a foreign country. For airline flight crew members, a special FMLA hours of service eligibility requirement was established under a separate amendment.
The proposed rules provide that in response to the proposed changes to the FMLA, each employer will need to obtain the revised FMLA poster. Compliance Poster Company will have more information and the updated FMLA posting as soon it becomes available.