Military Related Leave

Military Leave

Overview and Entitlements

Employees called to active duty in any of the uniformed armed service branches and their reserves, the US Coast Guard, the National Guard and the uniformed branches of the US Public Health Service, have rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and Washington state law.

Eligibility

Employees required to report for active duty or to take part in active training duty in:

• Washington National Guard
• Army reserves
• Navy reserves
• Air Force reserves
• Coast Guard reserves
• Marine Corps reserves of the United States
• Any organized reserve or armed forces of the United States

Leave

Up to 21 working days of paid military leave each year from October 1 through September 30

To Apply

Provide your department head or appropriate principal administrative officer with your military orders and forward a copy to Human Resources.

Resources

Military Leave for Public Employees -RCW 38.40.060

Department of  Labor -USERRA

Military Caregiver Leave for a Current Service Member and Qualifying Veterans

Overview and Entitlements

Under the provisions of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) an eligible employee who is a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a covered service member or veteran with a serious injury or illness may take up to 26 workweeks of unpaid leave during a rolling 12 month period.

A serious injury or illness is one that was incurred by a service member in the line of duty on active duty that may render the service member medically unfit to perform the duties of his/her office, grade, rank, or rating. An eligible employee is limited to a combined total of 26 workweeks of leave for any FMLA qualifying reason during a rolling 12 month period.

A serious injury or illness means an injury or illness that was incurred by the covered veteran in the line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces or that existed before the veteran’s active duty and was aggravated by service in the line of duty on active duty, and that is either:

A continuation of a serious injury or illness that was incurred or aggravated when the veteran was a member of the Armed Forces and rendered the service member unable to perform the duties of the service member’s office, grade, rank, or rating

OR

A physical or mental condition for which the veteran has received a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Service-Related Disability Rating (VASRD) of 50 percent or greater, and the need for military caregiver leave is related to that condition;

OR

A physical or mental condition that substantially impairs the veteran’s ability to work because of a disability or disabilities related to military service, or would do so absent treatment;

OR

An injury that is the basis for the veteran’s enrollment in the Department of Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.

Eligibility

An eligible employee will need to have worked for the State of Washington for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours immediately preceding their period of leave. 

Use of Accrued Leave

FML may be taken as paid or unpaid leave, upon the discretion of the employee and as identified in Clark College policies.  Employer paid medical benefits will remain effective during the FML period as long as the monthly premiums are paid.

To Apply

To apply for FML, the employee completes the Military Caregiver Leave Employee Leave Request form and the health care provider to complete the Military Caregiver Leave Health Care Provider Statement. Both forms are available on the forms page. Return both forms to Human Resources. Upon receipt of the forms, Human Resources will determine the employee’s eligibility for FML as well as other Federal, State, and college medical leave provisions. When possible, the forms should be returned 30-days prior to the start of the medical leave.

Resources

VA Program of Comprehensive Assistantce for Family Caregivers

Questions? Please contact a Human Resources Benefits Consultant at 360-992-2105.

Exigency Leave

Overview

Qualifying Exigency Leave: Under the provisions of the FMLA an eligible employee may take up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during a rolling 12 month period for qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty.
Covered active duty means:

• Members of the Regular Armed Forces , duty during deployment of the member with the Armed Forces to a foreign country
• Members of the Reserve components of the Armed Forces (members of the National Guard and Reserves), duty during deployment of the member with the Armed Forces to a foreign country under a call or order to active duty in support of a contingency operation

Qualifying exigencies include:

• Issues arising from a covered military member’s short notice deployment (i.e. deployment on seven or less days of notice) for a period of seven days from the date of notification
• Military events and related activities
• Certain childcare and related activities
• Certain activities related to care of the military member’s parent who is incapable of self-care
• Making or updating financial and legal arrangements
• Attending counseling provided by someone other than a health care provider for oneself, the covered military member, or the child of the covered military member, the need for which arises from the active duty or call to active duty status of the covered military member
• Attending to certain post deployment activities within 90 days of the end of the military member’s covered active duty
• Taking up to fifteen days of leave to spend time with a covered military member who is on short term temporary, rest and recuperation leave during deployment