DOL Proposes New FMLA Regs

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to address the implementation of the servicemember leave and airline flight crew provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If you're really into this stuff, you can see the full 213-page notice here. Or, you can see the more succinct:

• Fact Sheet: Proposed Rulemaking to Implement Statutory Amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act;
• Fact Sheet: Proposed Changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act Military Family Leave Provisions; and
• Frequently Asked Questions.

Or, you can just take the DOL's word for it that the "major provisions" are:

• the extension of military caregiver leave to eligible family members of recent veterans with a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty;
• a flexible, three-part definition for serious injury or illness of a veteran;
• the extension of military caregiver leave to cover serious injuries or illnesses for both current servicemembers and veterans that result from the aggravation during military service of a preexisting condition;
• the extension of qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees with covered family members serving in the Regular Armed Forces;
• inclusion of a foreign deployment requirement for qualifying exigency leave for the deployment of all servicemembers (National Guard, Reserves, Regular Armed Forces);
• the addition of a special hours of service eligibility requirement for airline flight crew employees; and
• the addition of specific provisions for calculating the amount of FMLA leave used by airline flight crew employees.

HT: Dan Schwartz for being quick on the draw reporting this one.

Image: Public domain work of federal government. DOL seal used in commentary on DOL. Not official use.

Posted by Philip Miles, an attorney with McQuaide Blasko in State College, Pennsylvania in the firm's civil litigation and labor and employment law practice groups.