Proposed FMLA Regulations

The Department of Labor (last month) announced proposed changes to the FMLA. These proposed changes would impact regulations associated with Military Leave, Flight Crew FMLA Eligibility and the manner in which employers calculate increments of FMLA leave.

The proposed rule regarding employer calculations, if finalized, will require employers to calculate FMLA leave using the shortest increments they use to track time. Some of the key proposed changes include:

• Expands military caregiver leave to cover eligible employees whose family members are recent veterans with serious injury or illness;



• Allows FMLA military caregiver leave for eligible family members of veterans with serious injury or illness who were active members of the military (including National Guard and Reserves) within the past five years;



• Expands the definition of serious injury or illness for both current service members and veterans to include pre-existing conditions aggravated in the line of duty; and,



• Includes hours of service eligibility requirement for airline flight crew employees based on unique scheduling requirements of the airline industry.

On February 15th those proposed changes were published in the Federal Register which means that the public has 60 days (until April 16, 2012) to comment on them. I have provided the link to the Federal Register (below). But be prepared, it's a 61 page document.

Proposed changes can be found as follows:
Page 2 - D: Updates to the Military Family Leave Provisions
Page 3 - E: Amendments to Eligibility Criteria for Airline Flight Crewmembers and Flight Attendants.

http://www.fmlainsights.com/FMLA%20proposed%20regs%20Feb%202012.pdf