Thursday, February 19, 2009
Finance Committee Approves Flexible Leave Act Clarification Bill
The Senate Finance Committee approved legislation to clarify the Flexible Leave Act (SB 562) during a hearing today.
Enacted last year, the Flexible Leave Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to allow employees to use any type of accrued leave to care for an ill family member. Following passage, Maryland businesses expressed concerns about how to implement the new law. Many of the key terms within the law were broadly defined, which created confusion for those responsible for putting proper procedures in place.
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.
This legislation approved by the Finance Committee today 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 because the employee has taken leave under the Flexible Leave Act.
The bill will now be considered by the full Senate. We’ll keep you posted. For more information, contact Maryland Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Allyson Black at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
