Question of the Week
The rumor is that Congress is considering making significant amendments to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Is the rumor true and if so, what amendments are likely to be made, and who will they effect?
Yes, it is true that Congress is considering significant amendments to the FMLA. Currently, sixty-seven bills are pending before Congress that either directly or indirectly alter the FMLA. Of the pending legislation, one of the most significant and most likely to become law is Senate Bill 1898, legislation that amends the FMLA to increase the amount of unpaid leave for eligible employees from twelve workweeks to twenty-six workweeks during a twelve-month period to care for a military or armed service member who is the employee's parent, spouse, or child.
If this amendment passes, certain employees will be entitled to six months of unpaid leave each year. A second significant amendment being considered would expand the scope of the FMLA. Currently, employees of a "covered employer" are only eligible for the FMLA leave if they work at a worksite of fifty or more employees or the employer employs fifty or more employees within seventy-five miles of the worksite. The proposed amendment would reduce the fifty-employee requirement to twenty-five employees. This amendment would entitle hundreds of thousands of additional workers to FMLA leave.
There are several other bills proposing various changes to the FMLA. While it is generally difficult to predict which will become law, it is clear that the Congress will likely make changes to the FMLA in the near future.
Please contact Brian McPherson for more information.
