Family and Medical Leave Act

In February, 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") published new Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") notification and certification forms (available below). These forms replace the forms that expired on December 31, 2011, and are effective through February 28, 2015. With the exception of the effective date, no changes were made to these forms. On February 15, 2012, the DOL also published proposed regulations ("Proposed Regulations"). It is expected that this forms will be further revised once the Proposed Regulations are finalized.

The Proposed Regulations would, among other things: expand the military family leave provisions of the FMLA; change certain instructions with respect to the calculation of leaves; and make changes to the text and order of the existing FMLA regulations. Once these regulations become final, your FMLA policies and procedures may require some minor changes. We encourage you to take a look at some of the materials we have below and to check this page regularly for more guidance.

The current regulations implementing the 2008 amendments to the Family Medical Leave Act became effective on January 16, 2009. There is a short article on the 2009 FMLA changes in our Winter 2009 Employment Advisor, and we have reprinted the FMLA article here.

Articles

Here are the new forms needed for Military Family provisions of the new regulations:
Certification of Qualifying Exigency for Military and Family Leave
Certification of Serious Illness or Injury of Covered Servicemember

Here are more general forms for employees requesting FMLA leave:
Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee's Serious Health Condition
Certification for Family Member's Serious Health Condition
Notice of Eligibility and Rights and Responsibilities
Designation Notice

Employers are still required to post FMLA rights in a conspicuous place where employees will be able to see it. Here is the recommended poster from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Also available is a fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Labor summarizing the 2009 changes.

The U.S. Department of Labor has a website with all of these forms and more guidance. You can find it at http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/finalrule.htm

For more individualized guidance, please contact one of our attorneys.