I’ve written before about how the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leaves same-sex families behind. Looks like HRC is stepping up to the plate here:
The DoL [Department of Labor] issued a notice that they plan to make changes to some of the regulations governing how the FMLA is administered—and asked groups to comment. HRC submitted written comments to DoL last Friday detailing our concerns with the proposed rules. We also made recommendations that FMLA leave be expanded through regulations and legislation to fully protect the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. . . .
While some of these expansions can’t be done by DoL, there is a bill in Congress that could do this. The Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act (H.R. 2792), introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), would expand the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to permit an employee to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave from work if his or her domestic partner or same-sex spouse has a serious health condition. It would also permit employees to take unpaid leave to care for a “parent-in-law, adult child, sibling or grandparent.”
I continue to have concerns over HRC’s handling of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and its willingness to forge ahead without the inclusion of gender identity/expression, but on the matter of family leave, they seem to be right on target.