The first major changes in more than 15 years to the Family and Medical Leave Act are out. Here’s what to look for and how HR can prepare. 
After two years if arm-wrestling among both houses of Congress and the White House, the new FMLA rules went into effect Jan. 16.

Here’s what to focus on:

• Leave for military. Eligible military family members will for the first time be able to take up to 26 weeks off in a 12-month period to care for a service member — including members of the National Guard and Reserves — with a serious duty-related injury. How many duty-related injuries can employers expect to see? In an average year, the figure is about 130,000.
• Doctor visits. The change clarifies rules on how often and when employees must see doctors. Previously, the law required employees to see a doctor twice during their leave. The new rules stipulate that those two doctor visits must take place within 30 days of beginning leave. The first visit must occur within the first seven days.
• Paid leave. Under new rules, employees who use paid leave at the same time as family leave must follow employer rules on paid time off. In other words, employees can’t just take announce they’re taking vacation time to get paid time off during an unplanned leave.  Instead, employees will have to follow company policies and rules for when and if they can take paid time-off.
• Leave requests. The old rule called on employees to notify employers of intent to take FMLA leave two days after the first absence. Under the new rule, an employee must follow the employer’s usual call-in rules and policies for reporting an absence, except in emergencies. That could mean, for instance, that your employees would be required to notify you in advance or on the first day of the absence, if that’s what’s in your standard policies.
• Medical certification. A designated representative of the employer - but not the employee’s  direct supervisor – can contact an employee’s healthcare provider to authenticate a medical condition, but you’ll need the employee’s consent, to comply with privacy regulations. Previously, employers had to have another medical professional contact the doctor.

But keep in mind …
Note that the changes to FMLA are hitting the streets just as President Bush leaves the White House and President-elect Obama takes office. Will that open the door for more changes? Maybe, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Any new proposed changes essentially would require a  re-do of the process that led to the current changes — further jaw-boning in Congress and a lengthy period of public comment (there were more than 20,000 comments leading up to the current changes). One Obama campaign proposal: The law would apply to employers with 25 or more employees, instead of 50 or more.

Tags: congress, Family and Medical Leave Act, FMLA, HR, Leave