The U.S. Department of Labor is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement new statutory amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act that would expand military family leave provisions and incorporate a special eligibility provision for airline flight crew employees.
The FMLA, enacted in 1993, entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons.
The proposed language would extend the entitlement of military caregiver leave to family members of veterans for up to five years after leaving the military. At this time, the law only covers family members of "currently serving" service members. Additionally, the proposal expands the military family leave provisions of the FMLA by extending qualifying exigency leave to employees whose family members serve in the regular armed forces. Currently, the law only covers families of National Guard members and reservists.
Amendments to the Military Family Leave Provisions
- The proposal expands coverage for military caregiver leave for the first time to include care for covered veterans with a serious injury or illness. The proposal includes the statutory amendment’s limitation on coverage to care for veterans to veterans who have been discharged within the five preceding years. The proposal also expands military caregiver leave to cover serious injuries or illnesses that result from the aggravation of a preexisting condition in the line of duty for both active duty servicemembers and covered veterans.
- The proposal expands the military family leave provisions of the FMLA by extending qualifying exigency leave to include employees whose family members serve in the Regular Armed Forces (in addition to the National Guard and Reserves). The proposal also adds the new statutory requirement that the employee’s family member be deployed to a foreign country (this requirement applies to National Guard, Reserves, and Regular Armed Forces members).
For airline flight crew employees, the proposed revision makes the benefits of the FMLA more accessible. It would add a special hours of service eligibility requirement for them and specific provisions for calculating the amount of FMLA leave used that better take into account the unique — and often difficult to track — hours worked by crew members.
Airline Flight Crew Amendments
- The proposal implements a new special minimum hours of service eligibility requirement for airline flight crew employees. In addition to other requirements, in order to be eligible to take FMLA leave employees must have worked for their employer for 1250 hours in the 12 months preceding their leave – this standard was difficult for flight crew employees to meet due to the unique requirements of the airline industry.
- Under the statutory amendments, airline flight crew employees will meet the hours of service eligibility requirement if they have worked or been paid for not less than 60 percent of the applicable total monthly guarantee and have worked or been paid for not less than 504 hours during the 12 months prior to their leave.