Military Law

Military Family Leave For Employees

If a family member or an employee is called on military duty or has been injured on military duty, then they have the right to take off to sort out their issues with health and other things.

The United States Federal law does instruct the employers to ensure that employees are given time off from work in order to fulfill their military duties and also handle issues when an immediate family member has been injured on military duty. Also, the laws have been modified to suit the employees more and this was passed during the tenure of President George W Bush. The new law now has 2 important parts to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as a part of it.

As per the FMLA, an employee is entitled to take up to twelve weeks of break in one year in order to handle issues related to military duty and also injury due to active military service. The twelve weeks can be taken all together or in parts.

In addition, an employee can take a total of twenty-six weeks off in a calendar year to look after a family member if they have been grievously injured during military service. These twenty-six weeks are inclusive of the twelve weeks. However, there have been several questions raised about this law. So, the Department of Labor does plan to issue a final draft on the agreement which will clearly mention what the rights are. This particular leave is not in effect completely as yet.

The law, however, states that any qualifying emergency has to be considered and permitted. This means that the employer cannot fire you for attending military duty and taking the 12 weeks off. When you come back, the employer has to accept you back at the same position and also without cutting your pay.

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