One of the FMLA laws that was revised was it entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. The FMLA also includes certain military family leave provisions. The Department of Labor issued a Final Rule on February 25, 2015 revising the regulatory definition of spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. The Final Rule amends the regulatory definition of spouse under the FMLA so that eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages will be able to take FMLA leave to care for their spouse or family member, regardless of where they live. This will ensure that the FMLA will give spouses in same-sex marriages the same ability as all spouses to fully exercise their FMLA rights. The effective date for the final rule is March 27, 2015. So what that is saying now is that it does not have to be a man that a woman is married to and the partner of the woman as long as they are married can also have leave. It does not have to be the opposite sex no more. It as well says that it does not have to be the state that you were married in as well. About time it is changes. The Department has moved from a “state of residence” rule to a “place of celebration” rule for the definition of spouse under the FMLA regulations. The Final Rule changes the regulatory definition of spouse to look to the law of the place in which the marriage was entered into, as opposed to the law of the state in which the employee resides. A place of celebration rule allows all legally married couples, whether opposite-sex or same-sex, or married under common law, to have consistent federal family leave rights regardless of where they live. The Final Rule’s definition of spouse expressly includes individuals in lawfully recognized same-sex and common law marriages and marriages that were validly entered into outside of the United States if they could have been entered into in at least one state. There was more changes done to the law back in 2009 as well. They amended the definition of a serious health condition. Employers had hoped that the DOL would significantly narrow the definition of “serious health condition.” The DOL acknowledged that many of the problems employers are facing are legitimate but concluded that it could not make material changes without taking away protections for clearly covered conditions. Therefore, the DOL only tweaked the regulations: 1. “Treatment” by a health care provider requires an in-person visit within seven days of the first day of incapacity. 2. “Health care provider” can include a physician assistant who is licensed and performing within the scope of his or her practice as defined by state law. 3. Where an employee seeks to be covered under the definition of “incapacity for more than three days,” which requires “continuing treatment by a health care provider,” the two treatments must be within 30 days absent extenuating circumstances outside the employee’s control. 4. Where an employee seeks to be covered under the definition of “chronic serious health condition,” which requires periodic visits for treatment by a health care provider, the employee must have treatment at least two times a year. The amount of time needed to take was also amended. The new regulations, like the old, state that generally an employer cannot charge an employee for more FMLA than is taken. In other words, if an employee only needs three hours of FMLA leave, he or she cannot be required to take a whole day. However, the new regulations have modified this requirement in several ways: Under the old regulations, an employer had to track FMLA time in the smallest increments used for time-keeping, or at least in increments as small as one hour. This meant that many employers had to keep track of FMLA leave in increments as small as 6 minutes. Under the new regulations, one hour is still the maximum, but the minimum is set by the employer’s other time-off policies, such as vacation time or sick leave. Where return to work is physically impossible, such as where a flight attendant needs to attend a doctor’s appointment in the middle of a scheduled flight, the employer can require the employee to take off the entire time of physical impossibility, not just the time needed for the appointment. However, the DOL has cautioned that this provision is very limited and will not apply to employees who need time off in the middle of a manufacturing shift. Where an employer’s paid leave policies require larger increments of time, such as a half-day or full day, the employer must choose between accepting the pay and using up the larger amount of FMLA time or taking the leave unpaid and only being charged for the smaller increment. The leave for Leave for “Qualified Exigencies” This is a new form of FMLA leave for the family members of an individual called to active military service from the National Guard, the Reserves, or military requirement. Unlike leave for “serious illness or injury,” this leave follows the normal 12 weeks per year FMLA model and applies only to the employee’s parent, spouse, or child. Like leave for “serious illness or injury,” the “child” may be an adult. “Qualified exigencies” include:
Short-notice deployment
Military events and related activities
Childcare and school activities
Financial and legal arrangements
Counseling
Rest and recuperation
Post-deployment activities
“Additional activities” which arise out of the call to active duty
The circumstances under which each of these leaves can be taken, and the amount allowed for each, are set forth in the regulations.

I would have to say that all the amended laws that have been changed was only changed for the better. I like the idea that they are seeing that it is ok for two woman to be together. I never saw a problem with that. Look at it as if you are a woman and you want and love this other woman and she is pregnant. You married her and are now a couple. You would want to be there with your wife while she was having the baby. The second part I like is giving a person more time to go to counseling because it all depends on what type of counseling that you need that you may need to be out for a while and why’ll you are out for that you do not want to have to worry about losing your job. That should be one less worry that you should have to deal with at that point of time. If you are going to counseling that means you are already going through a rough time in your life why you would want to make it even harder? I think these amendments are great and I wish they would amend the freedom of speech law as well. This is different then what the book says. For spouse in the book it says only husband or wife. It has nothing about the same sex at all in it. Also in the book it does not give you all the qualified reason to take FMLA leave like it now does on the internet. So back in 2004 when this book was wrote till now there has been many changes to the law. The changes only help us as he people though it is not out there to hurt us. When it comes to personal experience I would have to say we are going through some right now. My husband had to take work off due to his hand and they told him as long as he had a doctor note it would be covered under the law. Well he got released from the doctor 1 month after he was off. They called him the day after he was able to return back to work and told him they have his job covered. They hired a new person to take his job and hours. I told him that they cannot do this and I have contacted a lawyer but have not heard back from them. The company did give him a different position but it’s not the same pay and it is less hours. None of this would be happening if they would have read the updated FMLA laws because under the law he is covered. If it was not for this class we would have never known any of this at all. At this time I am not working so I am not sure how it would pertain to my business. I quit my job that I had due to decrease in pay and them closing the doors. So I cannot really talk about this topic to much but I did want to touch on it.

"Family and Medical Leave Act." - Final Rule to Revise the Definition of Spouse Under the FMLA. Department of Labor, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.

"Resources." Recent Changes to the FMLA Amendments: Law Firm of Miller Canfield. Megan P. Norris, 01 May 2009. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.

Weiss, Donald H., and Donald H. Weiss. Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing & Firing Practices to Keep You & Your Company out of Court. Fourth ed. New York: AMACOM, American Management Association, 2000. Print.