Last week President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 into law.  This new law is another expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The 2008 version of the NDAA first extended the protections of the FMLA to family members of those serving in the military by providing up to 12 weeks of family leave for “exigent” circumstances to employees who have a family member on active military duty in support of contingency operations. The 2008 NDAA also granted up to 26 weeks of “caregiver” leave to employees who have a family member who has been seriously injured while on active military duty.

The NDAA of 2010 has for major changes:

  1. Originally only family member of service members in active duty with the Reserves and National Guard were allowed to take unpaid leave.  Now anyone who is or has an immediate family member on active full-time dute  in the Armed Forces are now qualified to take unpaid military leave under both circumstances.
  2. The new amendments eliminate the requirement that a servicemember be called to active duty in support of a “contingency operation” for a family member to be entitled to leave for exigent circumstances. Instead, the servicemember’s active duty need only involve a deployment to a foreign country.
  3. The definition of “Covered Servicemember” has changed.  The new definition includes not only current servicemembers who are being treated for a serious illness or injury incurred while on active duty, but also anyone “who was a member of the Armed Forces…any time during the period of 5 years preceding the date on which the veteran undergoes” treatment.  This expansion of FMLA leave for the care of a seriously ill or injured veteran was intended to address the increasing cases of mental illness, which often manifest many years after a servicemember’s duty is completed.
  4. Lastly, the 2010 NDAA amends the FMLA’s definition of a “serious injury or illness.” The term now refers not only to a new injury or illness incurred by a servicemember while on active duty, but also to an injury or illness that “existed before the beginning of the member’s active duty and was aggravated by service in line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces.”

In order to make sure that you are up to date.  I encourage that you review your FMLA leave policy in light of the new changes.  At the very least, you need to review the changes so you know how to administer military leave.

Source: Davis & Kleuthau Attorneys at Law