By: Kara Maciel and Elizabeth Bradley
On March 8, 2013, amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) take effect which change the provisions governing military caregiver leave for veterans, qualifying exigency leave for paternal care, and job-protected leave for airline personnel and flight crews.
Relevant to hospitality employers, the amendments extend the right to take military caregiver leave to eligible employees whose family members are recent veterans with serious injuries or illnesses, and expand the definition of a serious injury or illness to include injuries or illnesses that result from preexisting conditions. The amendments also expand the right to take qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees with family members serving in the Regular Armed Forces, and added a requirement that for all qualifying exigency leave the military member must be deployed to a foreign country.
All employers with more than 50 employees must post a revised FMLA poster no later than March 8, 2013. The poster is available on the Department of Labor’s website at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmla.htm