Under the 1993 federal law, eligible employees who work for covered employers are entitled to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in any 12-month period in order to: birth and care for a newborn child; adopt and care for a son or daughter; and/or take care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition. Eligible employees may also take unpaid leave under the Act if they have a serious health condition themselves and are unable to work.

In 2008, the Department of Labor (DOL) updated the Family and Medical Leave Act with “the final rule.” According to the DOL, the final rule was designed to improve communications between employers, employees and health care providers, as well as to address the military family leave provisions in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.

Key changes include:

• The implementation of the Military Caregiver Leave provision, which grants eligible employees who are family members of covered servicemembers 26 workweeks of unpaid leave rather than the 12 workweeks provided under the original Act;
• New guidelines for what constitutes a “serious health condition,” including the number of visits a person must make to a health care provider during the period of incapacity; and
• An update to the “substitution of paid leave” provision that states that all forms of paid leave, including generic paid time off, are treated the same under the Act.

Additionally, employers can now meet notice requirements by providing employees with the following: a general notice about FMLA, an eligibility notice, a rights and responsibilities notice, and a designation notice.

To find out how the DOL’s final rule may affect you, contact the Ohio employment law attorneys at Stepter Law Office today.