Earlier this afternoon, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010.  By doing so, he approved of several changes to the FMLA .  But before you rip up your existing FMLA policies, the provisions relate to the military-related leaves under the Act.  (H/T Ohio Employer’s Law Blog)  The changes as a whole expand the coverage and the availability of military family leave. 

Carl Bosland at the FMLA Blog summarizes the details:

• Eligible employees will be able to take military caregiver leave for veterans who served in the regular Armed Forces, the Reserves within 5 years of the date the veterans undergoes medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy.  Currently, military caregiver leave is only available to care for current members of the Armed Forces, Guard, or Reserves.
• Military caregiver leave is expanded to cover aggravation of existing or preexisting injuries incurred in the line of duty while on active duty. 
• Qualifying exigency leave is expanded to cover members of the regular Armed Forces who are deployed to a foreign country.  Currently, qualifying exigency leave is only available for covered military members in the Reserves or Guard.

But of course, in Connecticut, this will only create another set of headaches. Connecticut just amended the state FMLA rules to be more consistent with the federal rules as they relate to military caregiver leave.  These new rules now create a significant difference between the state and federal rules.

Nevertheless, where the FMLA and the state FMLA conflict, employers in Connecticut must implement the more favorable of rules. Therefore, employers subject to FMLA in Connecticut