On January 31, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) made public proposed Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations that attempt to align existing regulations with two statutory amendments passed in 2009. The DOL’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) addresses the coverage of military caregiver and exigency leaves and revamps eligibility requirements for certain airline industry employees. It also proposes changes to other FMLA regulations, although it does not contain the kind of groundbreaking regulatory changes issued in 2008. Nevertheless, the proposed changes do contain important clarifications to existing law that, if finalized, will impact employers.

As most employers are now well aware, the FMLA was amended in January 2008 to provide two types of military family leave for FMLA-eligible employees...

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