Plan would expand leave for some families - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Plan would expand leave for some families

Military family members who are ineligible for family and medical leave still could get time off for deployment-related issues under potentially controversial legislation pending before two congressional committees.

The Military Family Leave Act would provide up to two weeks of leave — unpaid if an employer chooses — to people not covered by the military leave provisions of the existing FMLA.

Under current law, employees can be excluded if they have not worked for a year or longer for their current employer, have not worked a minimum of 1,250 hours for their current employer in the last 12 months, or work for a business that has fewer than 50 employees in a 75-mile radius.

The two weeks off under the pending bill would be available to spouses, children or parents of anyone deployed on a contingency operation or mobilized in support of a contingency operation.

While endorsed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the proposal is not supported by the Military Coalition, a group of more than 30 military-related organizations.

“We worry that forcing small businesses [to grant the time off] could be a disincentive to hiring that would work against families,” said a coalition member who works on family issues and asked not to be named.

“There was good reason that the original Family and Medical Leave Act is established the way it is, with small businesses exempt. Having even a few employees away can hurt a small business far more than a large one,” the family policy expert said.

The effect on businesses was not mentioned during a Feb. 25 hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s economic opportunity panel when the House version of the bill, HR 3247, was discussed.

Bill sponsor Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said he is trying to extend to people exempt from the FMLA some of the benefits provided last year, when military provisions were approved that grant up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave for families of deployed or seriously injured troops, and up to 12 weeks for other deployment-related issues.

“A significant number of military spouses work for small businesses, work part time ... or have less than one year with a company due to recent moves or reassignments,” Smith said.

The Senate version of the bill, S 1441, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has taken no action. That is one of the panels responsible for the Family and Medical Leave Act, and it pays close attention to the concerns of businesses.