Labor Officials Propose Changes To Family Leave Act

Labor Department officials said Thursday that they had proposed new regulations that address some corporate complaints that workers are abusing the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Under the proposals, workers generally would have to call in to request a leave before taking it. Currently, employees can take off for two days before requesting a leave.

The Family and Medical Leave Act gives employees at workplaces with 50 or more workers the right to take up to 12 unpaid weeks a year to cope with their serious health conditions or to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or a seriously ill child, spouse or parent.

The Labor Department said it also was drafting regulations to put into effect important changes that Congress approved this month to leaves for the families of wounded veterans.

Under the Defense Authorization Act, which awaits President Bush's signature, family members would be allowed to take up to six months of unpaid leave to care for wounded military personnel.

The defense act would also let workers take up to 12 weeks off for "any qualifying exigency" related to a family member's call-up to active duty or deployment. These changes are the first in the leave act since it was passed in 1993.

"Anything that will ease the burden of these families is welcome," said Nancy Lessin, a co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. "It's good that people won't lose their jobs when they're dealing with these horrible situations that will often last a lifetime."

Victoria A. Lipnic, the assistant labor secretary for employment standards, said the proposed changes were modest and did not go as far as the business community had hoped.

One of corporate America's biggest complaints was that many workers with chronic conditions, such as asthma or migraine headaches, took frequent, unscheduled leaves without notice.

Many business groups had urged the Labor Department to narrow the definition of serious health conditions because they thought many workers were taking leaves for minor illnesses. Department officials decided against tightening the definition, however, saying it should be done by Congress.

The Labor Department sent the regulations to the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday with the hope that they would be approved and published in the next few weeks. The public will have 60 days to comment.