On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law a Defense Department Fiscal Year 2010 authorization bill that expands the 2008 Family and Medical Leave Act amendments related to military family leave.

The 2008 FMLA amendments added two new categories of job-protected, unpaid leave for family members of certain military service members:  “qualifying exigency” leave and military caregiver leave.  Qualifying exigency leave provides 12 weeks of leave to family members of service members because of a “qualifying exigency” and is intended to help those family members spend time with or manage the affairs of a reservist or National Guard member on active duty or called to active duty.  A “qualifying exigency” includes military events and related activities, child care and school activities, and financial and legal arrangements, among other activities.  Military caregiver leave provides 26 weeks of unpaid, protected leave within a 12-month period to family members or “next of kin” of service members who are being treated for or are recuperating from a serious injury or illness incurred in the course of active duty.  Family members include the parent, spouse or child of a service member, and “next of kin” is defined as a blood relative who has been granted legal custody of a service member or who has been designated in writing by the service member as the next of kin for the purposes of FMLA military caregiver leave.

The 2008 FMLA expansion provided qualifying exigency leave only to family members of National Guard and Reserve service members.  The new law extends this leave to family members of those serving in the regular Armed Forces as well, as long as the member of the regular Armed Forces is deployed in a foreign country.  Additionally, the new law extends military caregiver leave to family members and next of kin of veterans.  Previously, military caregiver leave was available only to family members and next of kin of service members in the regular Armed Forces or in reserve units, and the leave was no longer available once the service member ceased to be a member of the Armed Forces or was placed on the permanent disability retired list.