Qualified Exigency Leave

Qualifying Exigency Leave
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees of covered employers with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during the applicable 12-month period for a qualifying exigency arising from a spouse’s, son’s, daughter’s, or parent’s covered active duty or call to covered active duty status.

A city must administer qualifying-exigency leave in accordance with the FMLA if it is a covered employer and the employee meets the FMLA eligibility requirements. Qualifying exigency leave may be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule when medically or otherwise necessary because of the qualifying exigency.

For a member of the Regular Armed Forces, covered active duty means duty during deployment with the Armed Forces to a foreign country. For a member of the National Guard or Reserves, covered active duty generally means duty during deployment with the Armed Forces to a foreign country under a federal call or order to active duty. “Foreign country” includes areas outside the United States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories or possessions, including international waters.

Qualifying Exigencies
Qualifying exigencies under 29 C.F.R. § 825.126 include:

• Short-notice deployment. Leave to address issues arising when the military member receives notice of an impending call or order to covered active duty seven or fewer calendar days before deployment. This leave is limited to seven calendar days beginning on the date the employee receives notice.
• Military events and related activities. Attendance at official military ceremonies, programs, or events and family-support or assistance programs related to the military member’s covered active duty.
• Childcare and school activities. Arranging alternative childcare; providing childcare on an urgent, immediate-need basis; enrolling or transferring a child to a new school or daycare; or attending certain meetings with school or daycare staff when the need arises from the military member’s covered active duty.
• Financial and legal arrangements. Making or updating financial or legal arrangements to address the military member’s absence or acting as the military member’s representative before a federal, state, or local agency.
• Counseling. Attending counseling for the employee, the military member, or the employee’s child when the counseling need arises from the military member’s covered active duty and is not otherwise covered by FMLA.
• Rest and recuperation. Spending time with a military member who is on short-term, temporary rest-and-recuperation leave during deployment, for up to 15 calendar days for each period of rest-and-recuperation leave.
• Post-deployment activities. Attending arrival ceremonies, reintegration briefings, and other official post-deployment events for up to 90 days after the military member’s covered active duty ends, or addressing issues arising from the death of the military member while on covered active duty.
• Parental care. Providing care to a military member’s parent who is incapable of self-care when the care is necessitated by the military member’s covered active duty. The leave may be used to arrange alternative care, provide care on an urgent or immediate-need basis, admit or transfer the parent to a care facility, or attend meetings with facility staff.
• Additional activities. Any other event arising from the military member’s covered active duty when the city and employee agree that the event qualifies and agree on the timing and duration of the leave.

Notice and Certification
When the need for qualifying-exigency leave is foreseeable, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable. The employee must provide sufficient information for the city to determine that the leave may qualify for FMLA protection, including the military member’s covered active-duty status, the nature of the qualifying exigency, and the anticipated timing and duration of leave.

The city may require certification supporting the request for qualifying-exigency leave. The city may use U.S. Department of Labor Form WH-384, Certification for Military Family Leave for Qualifying Exigency, or another form that seeks only the information permitted by 29 C.F.R. § 825.309. The city may request a copy of the military member’s active-duty orders or other official documentation confirming covered active-duty status when the information has not already been provided.

When leave involves a meeting with a third party—such as a school official, counselor, attorney, financial adviser, or military-support representative—the city may contact that third party to verify the meeting occurred and the nature of the meeting. The city may not seek additional information beyond what is permitted under the FMLA certification rules.

Military Caregiver Leave
Separate from qualifying-exigency leave, the FMLA provides eligible employees up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember or qualifying veteran with a serious injury or illness when the employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin. This is commonly called military caregiver leave.

Military caregiver leave is subject to distinct eligibility, relationship, certification, and leave-calculation rules. It is not limited to a service member’s deployment-related family emergency; it is leave to care for a covered servicemember or veteran with a qualifying serious injury or illness.