Just kidding. I wanted to keep your attention going. Every post I write can't be about naked CEOs or sexual harassment or have pictures of hot and almost undressed models, or this would turn into another kind of blog entirely.
This one is on a more serious matter: the rights of men and women in the armed services and their close relatives to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Recently, President Bush signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, which amended key portions of the FMLA. Specifically, this amendment requires employers to grant the following leave:
- 12 weeks of leave to employees who have a a spouse, parent, or child who is on or has been called to active duty in the Armed forces for a "qualifying exigency;" and
- up to 26 weeks of leave to employees who are the spouse, parent, child or "next of kin" of a servicemember who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, therapy, is on outpatient status, or otherwise on a temporary disability retired list, or a serious injury or illness, in order to care for the servicemember.
As a reminder to you out there, the FMLA only covers employers with 50 or more employees in a 75-mile area. For those of you covered by the FMLA, this is a fairly significant change. Before this amendment, an employee who had an injured loved one who is a servicemember would only be entitled to 12 weeks of leave, and only for a loved one who is a spouse, parent, or child. Now, 26 weeks of leave are required, not only for spouses, parents, or children, but also for "next of kin," which is defined as the nearest blood relative.
The other expansion is the 12 weeks of leave required for spouses, children, or parents of servicemembers called to active duty for a "qualifying exigency." It's not clear at this point what a "qualifying exigency" is, as the Secretary of Labor hasn't yet enacted a regulation defining what this is.
It's also not clear when these provisions go (or went) into effect, for reasons that are too boring to explain here. But the President signed the law into effect on January 28, 2008, and, at a minimum, you should be prepared to permit the 26 weeks of leave required for employees with family members who have been injured or are ill and who have been on active duty. We will be waiting for the Department of Labor to help us out on the "qualifying exigencies" that might entitle employees to the other 12 weeks of leave.
Incidentally, this doesn't mean that family members of people in the armed services are entitled to 38 total weeks of leave; the law only requires a total of 26 in any 12-month period, either under the 26-week leave for an illness or in combination with the "qualifying exigency" provision.
This is important news, if not particularly sexy. I'll look for reasons to post pictures of scantily-clad people for the next one (and to all you guys out there to whom I've spoken about the last post: You're welcome.).
