Revisions broaden medical leave rules; care for vets covered

And companies that don't alter their policies to comply could find themselves in legal hot water, warns attorney Jennifer Keyser, whose firm specializes in labor law.

Central to the issue is the Family Medical Leave Act, a 1993 federal law. It requires employers with at least 50 workers to grant a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period under certain circumstances, and without fear of being fired.

Most covered employers are probably familiar with the general terms that govern birth and care of a newborn, a worker who becomes a foster or adoptive parent, or providing care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.

Last year, Congress expanded the law to benefit the families of those in the military. And last month, President Obama signed legislation expanding that more.

Potentially most significant is a change that allows a worker to take up to 26 weeks off to provide care for a veteran in the family who is undergoing treatment for a condition that originated from military service.

The 2008 version governed only those caring for active members of the armed forces, reserves or national guard. Family members of those already discharged were not entitled to time off, said Keyser, an attorney with the Ballard Spahr firm.

This change, she said, is designed to cover the treatment of conditions that did not become obvious until after the person already was discharged, including post-traumatic stress disorders.

But the condition has to arise within five years after discharge.

A separate section of the new law provides up to 26 weeks off without pay to care for a service member or veteran who was injured on active duty and subsequently suffered an aggravation or reoccurrence of that injury. The prior law, by contrast, allowed leave to a caregiver on multiple occasions only when the injury or illness became serious enough to be considered an entirely new event.

Finally, not all of the changes require some illness or injury.

The new law also expands what the federal government considers "exigency" leave, where a family member needs to take time off to do things like care for a child, prepare a will or make financial arrangements.

Until now, that option was available only when the family member of the employee was in the military reserve or National Guard. The change approved by Congress extends that to those in the active duty military. This leave is limited to 12 weeks.

"People need to start reviewing their policies to be sure they're compliant with the new law," Keyser said. That, however, may be easier said than done.

"The problem is, we have no direction on what being 'compliant' means," she said. The reason is that Congress directed the U.S. Labor Department to craft regulations spelling out exactly how the new provisions should be carried out.

Keyser advised companies to be alert now if an employee comes to a supervisor with one of these issues.

"Everybody has to make their own good-faith effort to try to comply," she explained.