HB-5632, As Passed House, February 12, 2008

SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL NO. 5632

     A bill to provide for family military leave from employment

for certain relatives of an individual called to active military

service; to prohibit retaliation; and to prescribe remedies.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the

"family military leave act".

     Sec. 3. As used in this act:

     (a) "Active duty" does not include active duty for training.

     (b) "Armed forces of the United States" means all components,

including reserve and national guard components, of the United

States army, navy, air force, marine corps, and coast guard.

     (c) "Benefits" means the employment benefits, other than

salary or wages, that the employer normally provides or makes

available to employees, such as medical insurance, disability

insurance, life insurance, pension plan, or retirement plan.

     (d) "Employee" means an individual who works for an employer

under an express or implied contract of hire, but does not include

an independent contractor.

     (e) "Employer" means an individual, partnership, corporation,

association, or other business entity that employs 15 or more

employees, and includes the state and a unit of local government.

     (f) "Family military leave" means time off from work to ease

the transition of a family member who is called into duty in the

armed forces of the United States.

     Sec. 5. An employer shall allow up to 10 days or 80 hours,

whichever is less, of family military leave to an employee if all

of the following conditions are met:

     (a) The employee has been employed by the employer for at

least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours during the immediately

preceding 12 months.

     (b) The employee is the parent or spouse of an individual who

is a member of 1 of the reserve components of the armed forces of

the United States and who is called into active duty in the armed

forces of the United States for a period longer than 30 days.

     (c) The employee gives at least 14 days' notice to the

employer of dates that the employee intends to take family military

leave.

     (d) The dates of the requested family military leave fall

within 2 weeks before or 1 week after the employee's spouse's or

child's deployment date.

     (e) The employee has exhausted all accrued leave and

compensatory time available to the employee, other than sick and

disability leave.

     Sec. 7. The employer may require an employee requesting family

military leave to provide certification from the proper military

authority to verify the employee's eligibility.

     Sec. 9. (1) An employer shall continue to provide existing

fringe benefits to the employee during family military leave, and

the employee is responsible for the same proportion of the cost of

those benefits as the employee paid before the leave period. The

employer is not required to pay salary or wages to the employee

while on family military leave.

     (2) Upon expiration of the employee's family military leave,

the employer shall restore the employee to his or her position or

to a position with at least equivalent seniority, benefits, pay,

and other terms and conditions of employment.

     Sec. 11. (1) An employer shall not interfere with, restrain,

or deny the exercise or attempted exercise of a right provided

under this act.

     (2) An employer shall not discharge, fine, suspend, expel,

discipline, or discriminate against an employee with respect to any

term or condition of employment because of the employee's actual or

potential exercise, or support for another employee's exercise, of

any right under this act. This subsection does not prevent an

employer from taking employment action that is independent of the

exercise of a right under this act.

     (3) An employer shall not deprive an employee who takes family

military leave of any employment benefit that accrued before the

date the family military leave begins.

     Sec. 13. This act does not affect an employer's obligation to

comply with any collective bargaining agreement or employee benefit

plan that provides greater leave rights to employees than provided

under this act.

     Sec. 15. (1) An employer shall not require an employee to

waive rights under this act.

     (2) An employee's rights under this act cannot be waived or

diminished under a term in a collective bargaining agreement or

employee benefit plan that takes effect after the effective date of

this act.

     Sec. 17. An individual aggrieved by a violation of this act

may bring an action in the circuit court to enjoin the violation or

for any other relief necessary to secure a right under this act.