Military Caregiver Leave

• Family members of people serving in the armed forces are entitled to a maximum of 26 workweeks of leave from their job during a 12-month period. The leave must be to provide care to a service person who has suffered serious injury, or become ill, while on active duty. This 26-week leave is in addition to the original 12 weeks of time off given to employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Military Caregiver Leave section also expands on eligible family members who may take leave to include a service person’s brother or sister.
  
  

Qualifying Exigency Leave

• The Qualifying Exigency Leave provision allows an employee to leave work if a family member is serving in the National Guard or Reserves. This arrangement is for personnel already on active duty or called into service to support an operation being conducted by the armed forces. An employee may take 12 weeks of leave to assist the family during hardships caused by a member of the National Guard or Reserves being called to active duty on short notice. Other situations in which a family member may take advantage of the Qualifying Exigency Leave include: assisting with school interests and childcare, organizing family finances, and aiding in any counseling or recuperation service members may need after returning home from deployment.
  
  

Employer Notice Obligations

• The 2008 provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act further clarified communication between employers and employees. A company must provide employees with general guidelines about overall requirements of the act by hanging a poster in the workplace describing eligibility and other relevant topics. In addition, workers must be made aware of the law in a published handbook, or verbally, at the time of hire.
  
  

Employee Notice

• The Employee Notice portion of the Family Leave Act of 2008 is meant to prevent disruptions in the workplace caused by employees not communicating to their employers the need for leave time in advance. A worker must give notice of the need for time off 30 days in advance. If circumstances prevent a 30-day notice, an announcement should be given within a practical time frame. A worker is required to comply with company policy should he decide to take intermittent absences during his time off.
  
  

Substitution of Paid Leave

• Any type of leave under the FMLA is unpaid. According to the law, an employee may take any unused vacation, sick or other personal time simultaneously with FMLA leave. Employers have the right to require such time be used in conjunction with any request for time off under the FMLA.