Family Military Leave

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Maine law allows you to take unpaid leave from work when one of your family members is deployed.  Here are the requirements:

• You must be the parent, spouse or domestic partner of the person deployed.
• You must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours during the last 12 months.
• Your employer must have at least 15 employees.
• You do not work for the federal government.

In addition, the service member must be:

• deployed for at least 180 days to an area where armed conflict is taking place
• a resident of Maine

If you, your employer, and the service member meet these requirements, you are entitled to take family military leave.  Here are the details:

• You can take up to 15 days of leave each time the service member is deployed.
• You can take this leave during the deployment, or during the 15 days before or after the deployment.
• Your employer does not have to pay you for the time you are away.
• If you plan to take 5 or more consecutive work days of leave, you have to give 14 days notice to your employer.
• If you plan to take less than 5 consecutive days of leave, you need to give as much notice as you can.
• You need to talk with your employer to try to plan your leave so as to not cause undue disruption.
• Your employer can ask for something in writing from the military to describe the deployment.
• Your employer does not have to pay for your benefits (health insurance, etc.) while you are away, but it must allow you to maintain these benefits at your own expense.

Find the Maine law here: Title 26 MRSA §814.

Find more information about federal laws protecting activated service members  and their family members on Stateside Legal.

Thanks to the Tibor and Anna Doby Veteran Support Fund for supporting our efforts to educate our military servicemembers and veterans about their legal rights. 

May 2012
PTLA #779