For lawyers, anytime there’s a change, it seems to be a big deal. But for employers, change is inevitable and part of business.  Indeed, if a new poster is required by employers, most employers simply shrug and order a new poster on the internet through a site like Gneil.com.

My colleague, Jon Orleans (fresh off his Title IX victory on behalf of a group of volleyball players — congrats Jon!), and I remind you of this fact in a quick update regarding FMLA and I-9 forms. So if you haven’t ordered some new posters yet, now’s a good time to do so.

Clean Up Your Posters

The Family and Medical Leave Act turned 20 last month.  For any Rip Van Winkles among our readers, the statute, enacted during the Clinton Administration, requires employers of at least 50 employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for a variety of health- and family-related conditions.

For employees, it has been an enormous benefit.  For employers, it can be an administrative nightmare

The U.S. Department of Labor marked the birthday by, among other things, issuing a new final rule implementing two expansions of FMLA protections enacted by Congress.  This blog previously covered the proposed changes a while back.

The FMLA now provides families of eligible veterans with the same FMLA leave currently available to families of military service members, and also enables more military families to take leave for activities that arise when a service member is deployed. The second expansion provides additional protections to airline personnel and flight crews.

Information concerning the new rule is available here.

In conjunction with the new rule, the DOL revised the mandatory FMLA poster that must be displayed by all employers subject to the Act.  The new poster is available here and should be posted now.

For additional blog posts about this subject, check out some background articles here, here and here.

One important item to note for Connecticut employers: Connecticut has not yet updated its regulations for the CTFMLA so be sure to consult with your lawyer before taking action just on the federal FMLA rule changes.  The new posters will still need to be put up, but you will need an individualized assessment of how the rule changes will impact your business directly. (Note too that the comparison posted on the CTDOL website of FMLA and CTFMLA regulations will now be slightly out of date.)

And while we’re pointing out new forms, be aware that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has issued a new version of the I-9, the form that must be used by employers to verify that any person hired is authorized to work in the United States.  The new form is available here.

Older versions of the form will not be accepted after May 7, 2013.  Note that it is not necessary to complete the new form for existing employees unless reverification is otherwise required; but the new form should be used for new hires going forward.