Serving in the military or supporting a military family member comes with great responsibilities, but it also raises critical questions about job security and workplace rights. To qualify for military-related FMLA leave, employees must meet specific eligibility criteria. The criteria might seem confusing initially. For instance, how the FMLA protects employees on military leave is a common concern among officers.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides vital protections for military service members, military family members, and employees balancing both civilian employment and military obligations. This applies primarily to the active duty service members and regular armed forces from the National Guard or reserves, or other branches.
This guide explores how FMLA and related laws like USERRA (the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act) work together to protect your career, your benefits, and your family during times of military service and related hardships.
What Is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
A Foundation for Employee Rights
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), enacted in 1993, grants eligible employees the right to take job protected leave for specific family and medical reasons. This includes circumstances arising from military service obligations.
The law applies to covered employers, including private companies with 50 or more employees, public agencies, and local education authorities.
Employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for qualifying reasons while maintaining access to health benefits.
Importantly, the FMLA prohibits discrimination against employees exercising their rights, ensuring that taking leave does not negatively impact their career advancement or stability.
How FMLA Protects Military Families and Service Members
The Expansion for Military-Related Leave
Recognizing the special burdens faced by military family members, Congress expanded the FMLA through amendments tied to the National Defense Authorization Act.
This expansion created two new protections: Military Caregiver Leave and Qualifying Exigency Leave, specifically designed to assist employees affected by a family member’s military service.
These provisions acknowledge the emotional, logistical, and health-related challenges military families encounter, ensuring they receive the support they deserve.
Military Caregiver Leave Explained
Supporting Wounded or Ill Service Members
Military Caregiver Leave allows eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of job protected time off in a 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember.
This provision covers current service members of the armed forces, including the National Guard and reserves, who suffer a serious injury or illness incurred during active duty.
Employees can qualify if they are the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of the injured service member. Military-related individuals can apply for leave to care for those undergoing medical treatment, outpatient recovery, or rehabilitation for conditions. These conditions may place them on the temporary disability retired list or under Veterans Affairs care.
Qualifying Exigency Leave Explained
Military members seeking paid leave through FMLA must understand the qualifying exigency leave requirements. This can also apply to military members with family members and kin in a foreign country.
Addressing Urgent Family Needs During Deployment
When a family member is deployed, urgent tasks often arise. Qualifying Exigency Leave under FMLA grants eligible employees up to 12 weeks of leave to manage issues related to a family member’s covered active duty.
This includes handling financial or legal arrangements, preparing for short-notice deployments known as impending calls, attending military ceremonies, and addressing childcare or school issues linked to deployment.
Leave may also apply when dealing with post-deployment activities or circumstances like natural disasters that impact the deployed family member.
This essential provision ensures that civilian obligations do not become overwhelming when loved ones are serving abroad or engaged in contingency operations.
Eligibility Requirements for Military-Related FMLA Leave
If you’re interested in a military-related FMLA leave, you should know the eligibility requirements. Similarly, reserve members should also look into the qualification standards. This helps identify the qualifying employees and get leaves even for an extended period.
Understanding Who Qualifies
To qualify for military-related FMLA leave, employees must meet specific eligibility criteria. While the criteria can seem complicated at first, it’s not. Here’s a quick and simple explanation:
“An employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months, must have logged at least 1,250 hours in the previous calendar year. They must work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed within 75 miles.”
Employees seeking military family leave must also have a qualifying relationship to the service member, such as being an employee’s spouse, parent, child, or next of kin.
Understanding these eligibility requirements is crucial before requesting leave to ensure full compliance and avoid unnecessary complications.
How FMLA and USERRA Work Together to Protect Military Personnel
While the Medical Leave Act (FMLA) focuses on offering leave related to military obligations and family issues, USERRA ensures that employees who leave their civilian jobs to perform military service are entitled to reemployment rights upon their return.
Overlapping Rights and Stronger Protections
Together, these laws create a framework where military personnel can serve their country without fearing loss of employment, salary, or career progression.
Under USERRA, returning service members must be promptly reinstated into the same position or a comparable role, with seniority status and pay intact.
When combined with the FMLA’s protections against discrimination and guarantee of job protected time, the result is a robust legal shield for those involved in the military.
The Importance of Health Benefits During and After Military Leave
Under FMLA, employees on qualifying exigency leave or military caregiver leave continue to receive health insurance under the same conditions as if they were actively working.
This mirrors protections offered by USERRA, which ensures that military leave does not disrupt critical health insurance coverage.
Protecting Access to Healthcare
Employees returning from leave must also have their benefits reinstated immediately, even if they experienced outpatient status changes or underwent medical treatment while away.
Ensuring uninterrupted healthcare access is vital, particularly for families coping with the impact of service-related injuries or illnesses.
How Paid and Unpaid Leave Interact
While the FMLA itself provides for unpaid leave, some employers offer paid military leave or allow workers to use accumulated vacation or sick time concurrently.
Managing Other Leave Benefits
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act and related labor laws, employers must also ensure that exempt employees’ pay is not improperly docked during qualifying leaves.
Policies on paid family or military family leave vary widely, but all must comply with the minimum protections guaranteed under federal law.
Understanding your employer’s policies — and how they interact with FMLA — is key to maximizing your benefits during leave periods.
Common Problems Military Families Encounter
Military families tend to face plenty of trouble, even though the FMLA protects employees on military leave. Laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act provide viable protection, but they still have to face troubles.
Real-World Challenges Despite Legal Protections
Despite strong laws, many military family members and employees face practical issues when requesting FMLA leave.
These challenges include incorrect denial of qualifying exigency leave, employer misclassification of what constitutes a serious health condition. Moreover, it includes the pressure to return before the full leave period concludes.
Even improper calculation of leave entitlements across multiple deployments or obligations can add to the complications, making it harder for military personnel to get their desired leaves timely.
In cases where employers violate the FMLA, employees can pursue remedies including reinstatement, back pay, restoration of lost benefits, and court-ordered damages.
How to Enforce Your Rights Under FMLA and USERRA
If you believe your FMLA rights or reemployment rights under USERRA have been violated, swift action is critical.
You can file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division for FMLA issues, or use the Interactive Online USERRA Advisor to explore military employment rights.
In some cases, filing a lawsuit in federal court may be necessary to secure justice.
Both laws ensure protection not just for the employee, but for their families, careers, and financial security — a testament to the nation’s commitment to those who serve.
Final Thoughts
Balancing military service and civilian work is not easy, but federal law makes it possible to do both honorably and securely.
Whether managing a family member’s military service, caring for an injured covered servicemember, or handling urgent affairs due to active duty, the Family and Medical Leave Act and USERRA combine to offer powerful safeguards.
Understanding these rights — and asserting them when necessary — protects your career, your family, and your future.
Contact Bourassa Law Group for Help with Military Leave Rights
At Bourassa Law Group, we are proud to stand alongside those who serve and their families.
If you face wrongful denial of military family leave, retaliation after using qualifying exigency leave, or discrimination tied to your military service, we offer a free consultation to review your case, explain your rights, and pursue maximum remedies under the law.
Contact Bourassa Law Group today — because your service, sacrifice, and family deserve the strongest legal protections available.
1-800-870-8910