Federal Daily - November 18, 2008

FMLA Expands for Military Family Members

New Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rules published Nov. 17 will allow military family members to take as much as 26 work-weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to care for a servicemember injured or stricken by a serious illness while on active duty, the Department of Labor announced. The changes, set to go into effect Jan. 16, are part of final regulations modifying the 15-year-old FMLA, which has long granted eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period. Under the new rules, FMLA-eligible members of military families include spouses, children and parents, or—in the absence of any immediate family—other “next of kin.” The rules also define “qualifying exigencies” under which family of covered servicemembers—including National Guard and Reserve personnel—can take job-protected leave to get family affairs in order when a covered servicemember is called up to active duty or deployment. Those qualifying exigencies include short-notice deployment, issues involving childcare and school activities, and post-deployment activities. Although the changes targeting military families were welcomed by labor unions and family advocates, those groups generally criticized several other revisions. For example, the new rules allow employers to require “fitness-for-duty” evaluations for workers who took FMLA time and are returning to high-risk jobs. And while current regulations in some circumstances allow employees to request FMLA time up to two days after not showing up for work, new revisions compel workers to provide advance notice. The new rules are “another slap in the face to working families who are struggling just to get by in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “It’s reprehensible—but all too predictable.” To see more, go to: www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/esa20081703.htm or www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr11142008.cfm.

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TSA Issues Rebuke to News Story

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) roundly criticized a published account that depicts the Air Marshal Service (AMS) as plagued with lawbreakers unfit to patrol the nation’s airways. TSA was reacting to a story published in USA Today last week that said more than three dozen air marshals have been charged with crimes, and many others have been accused of misconduct. Cases ranged from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and smuggling drugs aboard the planes that marshals were tasked with protecting. But TSA said those lawbreakers represent a tiny fraction of the estimated 3,000 air marshals employed by the agency, and that the story is simply “rehashing old reports in an attempt to falsely characterize an organization comprised of many thousands.” Another criticism contained in the story was that AMS candidates are not properly screened. But TSA said all of its air marshals are required to obtain and maintain throughout their careers a Top Secret security clearance—which is granted only to those who meet the most stringent standards. “Simply put, the tiny fraction of air marshals that break the law or agency policy are swiftly dealt with,” TSA said in a statement. “We are committed to not allowing the actions of these few, rogue individuals to cast doubt on the thousands of dedicated marshals patrolling the skies today.” To see more, go to: www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/fams_usatoday.shtm.

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DOT Report Confirms FAA Mismanagement at DFW

The Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report confirming allegations that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials misclassified air traffic events in order to record fewer operational errors at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The report, released Nov. 13 by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), is the second report in three years addressing the question of FAA mismanagement at DFW, OSC said in a statement. The new OIG report reaffirmed that FAA management intentionally misclassified events as pilot error in order to avoid attributing operational errors to air traffic controllers. The report identified 62 air traffic events which were misclassified between November 2005 and July 2007 rather than being correctly identified as operational errors or deviations by controllers. The report noted that a lack of FAA oversight following a 2004 DOT OIG investigation of DFW allowed management to continue to underreport operational errors and deviations by controllers. Among the recommendations in the report, the OIG suggested that FAA permanently change the DFW Terminal Radar Approach Control management and require FAA’s Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service to conduct comprehensive onsite no-notice audits at the facility. To see more, go to: www.osc.gov/documents/press/2008/pr08_10.htm.

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