On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008. Among other things, H.R. 4986 (the "Amendment) significantly amends the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to extend coverage to employees to care for family members injured while on active military duty. The Amendment became effective upon the President's signature with respect to the 26 weeks of leave. The part of the Amendment concerning a "qualified exigency will not take effect until the Department of Labor (DOL) issues final regulations that will, among other things, define that term.

It is, by now, well documented that military members who are injured in battle are surviving in record numbers, leaving active duty and requiring short and long-term care to convalesce. This law recognizes this new fact of life for military families and permits them six months of protected unpaid leave to care for family members who return injured from an active duty deployment. Employers must review and amend their leave policies to acknowledge this substantial change to the FMLA. Because HR 4986 amends the FMLA, and not the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), it applies only to employers with 50 or more employees. Thus, smaller employers will not be affected (under USERRA, every employer is required to comply regardless of the number of employees).



Click here to read the entire article.