Family and Medical Leave Act: Regulatory changes update

Published February 11, 2009 by The Lubbers Law Group Attorneys at Law

Family and Medical Leave Act: Regulatory changes update

Please know there has been recent changes made to the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”). In summary, FMLA allows qualified employees to take twelve (12) weeks of unpaid leave from their positions without their employment being compromised. Please note, FMLA only applies to employers who employ more than fifty (50) full-time employees.

Below are the highlights of the regulatory changes in the Final Rule which affect employers and the manner in which they implement the FMLA in their places of employment:

1. Employees who are family members of covered service members are now able to take up to twenty-six (26) work weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious illness or injury incurred in the line of duty on active duty.
2. Twelve (12) work weeks of FMLA job-protected leave is now available to employees with a covered military member serving in the National Guard or Reserves to use for "any qualifying exigency."
3. An employee electing to use any type of paid leave concurrently with FMLA leave must follow the same terms and conditions of the employer’s policies that apply to other employees for the use of such leave.
4. Employers are required to provide employees with a general notice about the FMLA (through a poster, and either an employee handbook or upon hire), an eligibility notice, a rights and responsibilities notice, and a designation notice. The Final Rule extends the time for employers to provide various notices from two (2) business days to five (5) business days.
5. An employer’s representative contacting an employee’s health care provider must be a health care provider, human resource professional, a leave administrator, or a management official, but in no case may it be the employee’s direct supervisor.
6. Employers may request a new medical certification each leave year for medical conditions that last longer than one year. An employer may request re-certification of an ongoing condition every six (6) months in conjunction with an absence.

If you have any questions regarding the FMLA or this correspondence, please do not hesitate to contact our office.