At their meeting on November 14, 2013, the Board of Trustees amended the University Policy on Family and Medical Leave. The policy was amended to reflect changes to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act that were effective on March 8, 2013.
Correspondingly, revisions to Policy and Rules for Civil Service Staff have also been approved effective November 21, 2013 as follows:
- Rule 11.07, Family and Medical Leave
- Regulations 11.071 to 11.080, Family and Medical Leave
Revisions to the Family and Medical Leave policies are required to comply with amendments to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act effective March 8, 2013. The most significant changes include (1) revised definition of a covered veteran, (2) extension of qualifying exigency leave to eligible employees who are family members of the Regular Armed Forces and adding the requirement for all military members to be deployed to a foreign country in order to be on “covered active duty” under FMLA, (3) increasing the amount of time an employee may take qualifying exigency leave related to the military member’s Rest and Recuperation leave, and (4) creating an additional qualifying exigency leave category for parental care leave. Other minor language changes are recommended to clarify processes and procedures and to address the Supreme Court’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ruling related to the definition of a “spouse” for purposes of FMLA enforcement.
Changes to these policies affect all University employees eligible for Family and Medical leave benefits.
More information can be obtained by reviewing the policy changes in their entirety or contacting your campus/central Human Resources Office. Policy changes can be viewed in the Family and Medical Leave section of NESSIE.
