Military Leave under FMLA

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that entitles qualified employees to reasonable unpaid leaves due to certain family and medical reasons. Under FMLA California, leaves can be taken in order to take care of a sick or injured family member, especially those who were active in military duties.

Eligibility

The FMLA covers all public agencies that have more than 50 employees who work for 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. These public agencies include state, local and federal employers, schools, private-sector employers, joint employers, and successors of covered employers. The eligible employee must have worked for at least a year or 1,250 hours in the current covered employer.

Military Leave Entitlements

• Military Caregiver Leave: A qualified employee who is the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a covered service member with a serious injury is given non-consecutive 26 weeks of unpaid leave during a single 12-month period. This leave is given to take care of the service member who has incurred a serious injury or illness in the line of duty which left him medically unfit to perform his tasks. The service member should be a current member of the Armed Forces, National Guard, or Reserves who is undergoing medical treatment, recovery, or therapy. He should be in outpatient status or on the temporary disability retired list. The single 12-month period will begin on the day the employee takes a leave for this reason and will end after 12 months regardless of the 12-month period established for other FMLA leaves. The remaining leaves may be used for other FMLA-qualifying reason, other than for the care of a service member.

• Qualifying Exigency Leave: Twelve weeks of unpaid leave during a normal 12-month period is given to eligible employees for qualifying exigencies, or if the employee’s spouse, child, or parent is out on duty, or has been ordered or called for duty to support a contingency operation. This is available to an employee who is a family of someone who is a member of the National Guard or Reserves. Family members of the Regular Armed Forces are not entitled for this leave.

In case of spouses who are employed by the same employer, the leaves will total to 26 workweeks in a “single 12-month period.” Valid reasons include care for the injured service member, birth and care of a newborn child, placement of a child for adoption or foster care, and care for a parent with serious illness. 

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