Under the new Family and Medical Leave Act regulations that take effect on January 16, 2009, you could be required to use several new forms.
Sign up for education sessions to better understand new changes to FMLA.
This Powerpoint presentation will explain the new changes to the Family Medical Leave Act.
Family and Medical Leave Act and Military Leave
Summary of Final Regulations
Thursday, January 8, 2009
On November 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor issued its final regulations under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which include expansions to
cover military leave. The final FMLA regulations summarized below reflect changes and additions such as military leave that will impact procedures at Duke University
and Health System. The final regulations become effective on January 16, 2009.
The revised regulations reorganized the rules and clarified many provisions, making them more user-friendly. The new rules help clarify questions and issues with
the existing FMLA regulations to ensure that the law is working for both employees and employers.
Here are the changes that have an effect on our business:
- Clarifies that an employee, in order to substitute paid leave for FMLA leave, must comply with the employer's policy regarding the paid time off, even if the requirements are more stringent than FMLA notice requirements.
- Allows an entire missed shift to be charged against FMLA leave when it is physically impossible for an employee to begin the shift late (e.g. working on an airline flight that has already taken off).
- Allows an employer to delay or deny FMLA leave when an employee fails to comply with the employer's notice and procedural requirements absent unusual circumstances;
- Provides details on the parameters of the military leave provisions including a comprehensive list of what constitutes an "exigency" that qualifies for leave.
- Allows employers to track FMLA using increments under different leave policies (e.g., require use of 8-hour increments for vacation, 2-hour increments for sick days).
- Allows employers to count any absences during the delay as non-FMLA absences and apply the employer's attendance policy to those absences.
- The employer must provide the employee with an eligibility, rights and responsibility, and designation notice. Employer has five days to provide notice.
- Establishes that bonuses, awards, or other payments based on the achievement of a specified goal, such as perfect attendance, may be denied if an employee has not met the goal due to FMLA leave.
- Allows an employee to become eligible for FMLA while out on non-FMLA; the leave period after the date the employee becomes eligible is FMLA leave and the leave before such leave is non-FMLA leave.
For more information, please see the Leaves of Absence web site.
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