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e-Li: Electronic Library

Military-related Leave

The 2008 amendments to the FMLA, and additional amendments made in 2009 in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2010 (NDAA 2010), added provisions for qualifying exigency leave when the employee’s family member is serving on active duty or is called to active duty in a foreign country, and military caregiver leave to care for a family member who becomes seriously injured or ill in the line of duty while on active duty. These new provisions allow eligible employees to take up to 12 workweeks to attend to qualifying exigencies when the employee’s spouse, son, daughter or parent is on covered active duty or is called to covered active duty, and up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period to care for the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin with a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty.[1]

Protections afforded by Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) extend to all military members (active duty and reserve), and all periods of absence from work due to or necessitated by USERRA-covered service is counted in determining an employee's eligibility for FMLA leave. (29 CFR § 825.110).

[1] 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.126, 825.127.