After vetoing a bill that would have expanded Family and Medical Leave to military families last fall, Bush recently signed the Department of Defense Authorization Conference Report on January 28. The expansion extends unpaid family and medical leave for up to six months for the families of wounded military personnel.

But the Department of Labor wants some changes made to the current law, 500 pages of them to be exact, changes that some say will put control into the hands of employers over workers.

Some notable changes proposed by the DOL include: 

• The DOL proposes that two visits to a healthcare provider must occur within 30 days of the beginning of the period of incapacity, to establish a serious health condition. At present, the timeframe of the two visits (or one visit and a regimen of continuing treatment, such as a prescription) is open-ended."
• Employers will be permitted to contact employee's healthcare providers directly to authenticate or clarify the medical certification.
• Employers may require recertifications every six months for conditions that are of indefinite or lifetime duration. Healthcare providers may be questioned as to the employee's absence pattern to determine if it is consistent with the health condition.

There's the misconception that workers are abusing family and medical leave left and right, with some critics going so far as to cite the ease of cell phones to call in sick as being a major factor.

FMLA provides only unpaid leave, so it makes little sense to argue that workers are just jumping at the chance to get out of work and out of their earning power. Furthermore, because of the inadequacy of unpaid leave, for millions of employees the FMLA is not an option, even if it is the only option offered to an employee for time away from work to care for a family member.

If you're in for a long night, the Department's 500 pages of changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act is viewable here and will be available for public comment for 60 days.

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