The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has released a draft administrative policy to provide guidance on the Military Family Leave Act requirements for employers. The requirements are part of Labor Regulations under RCW 49.77, and L&I is holding a public feedback session on Tuesday, May 23. Additionally, the draft policy will be open for public comment until Friday, June 9.

The Military Family Leave Act was created to support families of military personnel serving in military conflicts, assuring that these families are able to spend time together after being notified of an impending call or order to active duty and before deployment, and during a military member's leave from deployment.

The law allows up to 15 days of unpaid leave for an employee when their spouse or domestic partner has received orders to report for active duty or deployment, or when the spouse or domestic partner is on leave from a deployment. To be eligible, the employee’s spouse or domestic partner must be a member of the armed forces – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard – or National Guard, and the employee must also work at least 20 hours per week, on average. While this leave is unpaid, an employee may choose to substitute accrued paid leave.

A draft of the proposed administrative policy can be viewed on L&I’s website, and a bulleted summary is included below:

• An employer may request verification from an employee requesting leave under this policy. Deployment notification letters, marriage certificates, current military identification, proof of service, and military employment verification are all acceptable forms of verification.
• The 15 days of leave is equal to 15 working/scheduled days and does not include scheduled days off. The employee may elect to use the leave consecutively or intermittently. Further, if an employer has not posted the schedule at the time an employee has requested leave, then an average, based on how many days that employee was scheduled to work per week during the previous 30 days, would be used to determine 15 days leave.
• For each deployment, as long as it is a new assignment and regardless of whether they fall within the same calendar year, the worker is allowed 15 days of unpaid leave.

Public Feedback Session

L&I is holding a public feedback session to discuss the draft administrative policy on Tuesday, May 23 from 2:30-4:00 PM. Zoom information for the feedback session is provided below.

Zoom Webinar Information

https://lni-wa-gov.zoom.us/j/81058136473?pwd=OGpBKzkzNTNDVXpzTzNaTHdoSEd0UT09

Meeting ID: 810 5813 6473

Passcode: EmpStds23!

One tap mobile: +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

Passcode: 6245348783

Submitting Feedback

A public comment period on the draft policy is open until close of business on Friday, June 9. Feedback can be submitted directly to L&I’s website via the “Submit Comments” tab, or using an attached document via the “Upload Documents” tab. Feedback can also be submitted via the ESRules@Lni.wa.gov email box. Feedback submitted to the email box will be uploaded to this engagement site.