The Department of Labor (DOL) Nov. 17 issued a final rule updating – for the first time in more than 13 years – the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that provides additional leave for military families and further guidance for both employees and employers. The new rule is scheduled to take effect in January 2009.
Under the new rule, employers are required to provide employees with information about FMLA including a general notice, an eligibility notice, a designation notice and a notice of rights and responsibilities. Employees who need to use FMLA leave are now required, under the final rule, to follow the employer’s usual and customary call-in procedure when reporting an absence, unless there are unusual circumstances that prevent it.
Also included in the final rule was a provision passed in January 2008 that allows up to three months for active duty leave and allows family members of injured military personnel to take up to six months of unpaid leave during the rehabilitation process.
FMLA was enacted in 1993 to allow workers to take unpaid leave to address important family and medical issues. Under the new rules, employees will still be able to take time off for the birth or adoption of a child, to take care of a family member with a serious illness, or seek treatment themselves when seriously ill.
To view a copy of the final rule, visit the DOL website,
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/finalrule.htm.
For more information, contact Kristen Swearingen at ABC,
swearingen@abc.org.