New Rhode Island Law Grants Military Family Members Unpaid Leave.On June 23, 2008, Governor Donald Carcieri Donald L. "Don" Carcieri (born December 16, 1942) is the Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Politically a centrist Republican, Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher. signed into law the Family Military Leave Act (the "Act"), Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. General Laws sections 30-33-1 to 30-33-6. The Act, effective when signed, offers a new right to unpaid leave for the family of servicemembers. Under the new law, spouses and parents of persons called into military service must be allowed time off and restored to an equivalent position at the conclusion of their leave. Who Is Covered? The Act applies to all Rhode Island employers with more than 15 employees and covers both employees and independent contractors A person who contracts to do work for another person according to his or her own processes and methods; the contractor is not subject to another's control except for what is specified in a mutually binding agreement for a specific job. . In order to qualify for leave under the Act, an employee must satisfy the same eligibility requirements as required under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA FMLA Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 FMLA Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance ) - that is, he or she must have worked for the employer for 12 months and must have 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12 months. The Act calls for leave for spouses and parents of persons called to military service, but not for children of servicemembers. Family Military Leave Granted Under the Act, leave is available to qualifying family members of persons called to military service lasting longer than 30 days. Eligible employees are allowed 15 days off if their employer has 15-50 employees and 30 days off if their employer has 51 employees or more. The leave can be taken any time while the servicemember's orders are in effect. (The Act does not state whether it applies to family members of servicemembers deployed prior to its enactment.) The employee must first exhaust accrued ac·crue v. ac·crued, ac·cru·ing, ac·crues v.intr. 1. To come to one as a gain, addition, or increment: interest accruing in my savings account. 2. vacation, personal leave or other time off (but not sick time or disability leave) before taking unpaid leave under the Act. The employee must give the employer 14 days prior notice if the leave is expected to last for five or more consecutive workdays. If the leave is expected to last fewer than five days, the employee must give notice as soon as practicable practicable adj. when something can be done or performed. . An employer can require that the employee provide certification from the military to verify the employee's eligibility. An employee returning from family military leave has a right to job restoration with equivalent seniority status, benefits, pay and other terms and conditions of employment conditions of employment that part of an employment that sets out the duties, responsibilities, hours of work, salary, leave and other privileges to be enjoyed by persons employed, for example a veterinary nurse, in private practice. . An employer cannot interfere with an employee's rights under the Act or discriminate dis·crim·i·nate v. dis·crim·i·nat·ed, dis·crim·i·nat·ing, dis·crim·i·nates v.intr. 1. a. or retaliate against anyone who exercises or attempts to exercise such rights. Employees can sue to enforce their rights under the Act. The employer must allow the employee to continue participating in its benefit programs at the employee's expense. The Act does not, however, require the employer to pay the employee's wages or to pay for benefits (such as life or health insurance) during the leave, although the employer may elect to do so. The statute does not explicitly limit how often an employee may take the leave. Thus, it is possible that an eligible employee who is the parent or spouse of more than one deployed servicemember or of a servicemember who is deployed multiple times may be entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to take more than one leave in a given year. Comparison to New Federal Family Military Leave Congress recently amended the FMLA to permit eligible employees to take leave in two new circumstances: Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave "for any qualifying exigency" if the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the eligible employee is on active duty. ("Qualifying exigency" was not defined by the statute; that provision of the FMLA does not go into effect until the U.S. Department of Labor defines this term.) An employer must grant eligible employees up to a total of 26 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period to care for a servicemember who has suffered a serious injury or illness in the line of duty In the Line of Duty may refer to:
Unlike the FMLA, the Rhode Island Family Military Leave Act allows leave to be taken any time the servicemember is deployed, regardless of injury or any other "exigencies." Another significant difference between the FMLA and the Rhode Island Family Military Leave Act is that the latter also applies to independent contractors. In addition, the Rhode Island Family Military Leave Act applies to a smaller group of family members (as children of servicemembers are not included) and allows for a shorter leave period than the FMLA. Indeed, in many instances, leave granted under the Rhode Island Family Military Leave Act will run concurrently with and be exhausted before military leave taken under the FMLA. Recommendations for Rhode Island Employers Employers should review and, if necessary, amend their leave policies to reflect this new mandatory provision. Any employer with questions about employee leave rights should contact experienced employment counsel. The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. Mr George Kostakos Littler Mendelson Littler Mendelson P.C. is a San Francisco-based law firm with one of the largest employment law practices in the United States. History and practice The firm was founded in 1942 by a deputy Attorney General of California and a director of the War Labor Board, initially to 650 California Street 20th Floor San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden California CA 94108-2693 UNITED STATES United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Tel: 4154331940 Fax: 4159863925 E-mail: VWalker@littler.com URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : www.littler.com Click Here for related articles (c) Mondaq Ltd, 2008 - Tel. +44 (0)20 8544 8300 - http://www.mondaq.com |
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