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FMLA Protections Expanded for Military Families

July 29. 2013Scott BrownRelated Practice Areas: Employment Law
Scott J. Brown

The U.S. Department of Labor recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Family and Medical Leave Act by issuing a final rule implementing important expansions of FMLA protections. One expansion provides families of eligible veterans with the same job-protected FMLA leave currently available to families of military service members. It also enables more family members to take leave for activities that arise when a service member is deployed.

The final rule, effective March 8, 2013, implements congressional amendments to the FMLA permitting eligible workers to take up to 26 work weeks of leave to care for a current service member with a serious injury or illness. Congress also created qualifying exigency leave, which permits eligible employees to take up to twelve work weeks of leave for qualifying exigencies arising out of active duty or called to active duty in support of a contingency operation for family members serving in the National Guard or Reserves. This means that workers can attend both farewell and welcome home ceremonies, as well as spend time with a family member on leave from active duty service, without being penalized at work.

The major provisions of the final rule applicable to service members include:

  • Defining a covered veteran, consistent with statutory limitations, as limited to veterans discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable 5 years prior to the date the employee’s military career leave begins.
  • Creating a flexible definition for serious injury or illness of a covered veteran, that includes four alternatives, only one of which must be met.
  • Permitting eligible employees to obtain certification of a service member’s serious injury or illness (both current service members and veterans) from any health care provider as defined in the FMLA regulations.
  • Extending qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees who are family members of members of the Regular Armed Forces and adding the requirement for all military members to be deployed to a foreign country in order to be on “covered active duty” under the FMLA.
  • Increasing the amount of time an employee may take for qualifying exigency leave related to the military member’s Rest and Recuperation (R & R) leave from 5 up to 15 days.
  • Including an additional qualifying exigency leave category for parental care leave to provide care necessitated by the covered active duty of the military member for the military member’s parent who is incapable of self care.

While these changes may only affect a narrow section of your work force, you need to be aware of those that impact and broadly expand the scope of leave for service members and family of service members. You should also visit the U.S. Department of Labor website http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla to obtain copies of the revised FMLA leave forms and the updated FMLA poster required for your workplace.

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With experience in virtually all areas of civil litigation, we have a diverse client base and our attorneys provide companies of various sizes with extensive trial experience and case preparation acumen. Throughout our history, we have represented individuals and companies in a variety of industries, including long-term care, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, construction, professional services and transportation. In addition to trial and appellate work, we provide both organizations and individuals with the tools to analyze and prevent risk before litigation arises.

We take pride in working with our clients and not just for them. Every case is different, and determining the best possible outcome is what our attorneys deliver. Sometimes this means aggressive preparation for trial, other times it may involve seeking an early resolution through alternative means, such as mediation or arbitration. Ultimately, our clients receive the benefit of having their matters handled with maximum efficiency and skill.

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We represent some of the nation’s top hospitals and other healthcare providers in the successful defense of malpractice litigation. The actions we defend are approached with the highest level of professional consideration and we have tried hundreds of cases to verdict in over 50 counties nationally. Our industry expertise and innovative use of technology to create demonstrative evidence during trial provides clients with the most successful defense possible. We also have access to a network of the most qualified consultants and experts who provide guidance and work closely with our team of attorneys on these lawsuits.

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Cassiday Schade's Veterinary Medicine practice group represents Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) Registered Veterinary Technicians (R.V.T.) and veterinary assistants and their practices in malpractice claims, state licensing and disciplinary board actions, and appeals.

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