CALIFORNIA EXPANDS PAID FAMILY LEAVE TO COVER MORE RELATIVES

Governor Jerry Brown of California has signed SB 770 into law, expanding the types of relatives for whom employees may take paid family leave (PFL).  Effective July 1, 2014, this bill expands the scope of PFL to include time off to care for a seriously ill grandparent, grandchild, sibling or parent-in-law.

DOL RELEASES FACT SHEET ON FMLA

The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has released a fact sheet about qualifying reasons for Leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  The DOL has taken a different position regarding same-sex marriages than the Department of Defense (DoD), which issued a press release on the subject.

DOL FINDS FMLA VIOLATIONS AT T.G.I. FRIDAYS

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has announced that T.G.I. Fridays, a subsidiary of Minnesota-based Carlson, has agreed to change its leave policy to be in compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).  The move affects employees at its 272 company-owned locations.  The company has also agreed to correct violations of the FMLA found during an investigation of one of its restaurants in Shreveport, LA., and pay an employee back wages.

DOL PUBLISHES NEW FINAL REGULATIONS ON FMLA

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) has published a new set of final regulations regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This Final Rule amends prior regulations to implement amendments to the military leave provisions of the Act made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY 2010 NDAA), to implement amendments to the hours of service requirements made by the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act (AFCTCA) and add new leave calculation regulations for flight crew employees, and to clarify existing regulatory provisions related to intermittent leave and make other clarifying changes.

DOL ISSUES PROPOSED FMLA REGULATIONS

The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has released proposed regulations that would revise certain regulations regarding the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), primarily to implement recent statutory amendments to the Act. These proposed regulations would implement amendments to the military leave provisions of the FMLA made by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which:

CIVIL UNIONS LEGALIZED IN ILLINOIS

On January 31, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a bill that legalizes civil unions.  The new law will take effect on June 1, 2011.  This law entitles civil union partners to enjoy all of the legal rights and obligations of spouses under Illinois law.