On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which expands certain Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) military leave rights that were originally created pursuant to the NDAA of 2008.

The 2008 NDAA provided the child, parent, or spouse of a service member in the National Guard or Reserves with 12 weeks of unpaid leave to deal with any "qualifying exigency" related to the reservist being on active duty or being called to active duty. In January 2009, the Department of Labor issued regulations that defined activities that would constitute qualifying exigencies, including short notice deployment, military events and activities, childcare and school arrangements, financial and legal arrangements, counseling, rest and recuperation, and post-deployment activities.

Prior to the 2010 NDAA, FMLA leave for qualifying exigencies did not apply to a member of the Regular Armed Forces. The 2010 NDAA extends FMLA leave for qualifying exigencies to members of the Regular Armed Forces provided that the service member is deployed to a foreign country.

Additionally, the 2008 NDAA provided the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin to a member of the Armed Forces injured in the line of duty with 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for the injured military member. This leave is often referred to as "caregiver leave" and is applicable to the care of any active service member, whether a reservist or regular military.

Prior to the 2010 NDAA, the caregiver leave was not available to care for a former member of the armed forces. The 2010 NDAA expands the coverage for caregiver leave and provides that 26 weeks of unpaid leave may be taken for the care of veterans who are undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy for a serious injury or illness that occurred any time during the five years preceding the date of treatment.

ELI®’s flagship workplace training program, Civil Treatment® for Managers (CTM), has been updated to reflect these changes to the NDAA. CTM teaches participants about relevant workplace issues, including FMLA and other types of workplace leave. To learn more about ELI’s catalogue of programs, visit www.eliinc.com.