Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Chamber Supports Bill to Clarify Flexible Leave Act
The General Assembly passed the Flexible Leave Act in 2008. This new law requires employers with 15 or more employees to allow employees to use any type of accrued leave to care for an ill family member. The Chamber opposed the bill, but it was passed by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor.
Following passage, Maryland Chamber members expressed concerns about how to implement the law. Many of the key terms within the law were broadly defined, which created confusion for those responsible for putting proper procedures in place.
During the interim, the Maryland Chamber, along with other business groups, worked to develop legislation to clarify key terms and address the vagueness and broad scope of the original law. We are pleased that Sen. Rob Garagiola (D-Dist. 15), the sponsor of the original bill, has introduced this clarifying bill (SB 562).
This legislation would:
- Provide specific definitions of key terms including, child, parent, employee, employer, and leave with pay.
- Provide a leave parity provision, which provides that the employee use leave to care of a family member under the same conditions and policy rules that would apply for the employee’s own illness.
- Clarify the anti-retaliation provision to specify that an employer may not discharge, demote, suspend, discipline, etc. an employee solely because the employee has taken leave under the Flexible Leave Act.
The Maryland Chamber strongly supports this bill, which will be heard by the Senate Finance committee on February 19. For more information, contact Allyson Black at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
