The federal government's recent issuance of a final rule implementing important regulations expanding the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protections applicable to employers with 50 or more employees requires a mandatory change to the federal FMLA notice/poster entitled "Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act."

All covered employers (50+ employees) must display the poster prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) summarizing the major provisions of the FMLA and telling employees how to file a complaint. The poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place where employees and applicants for employment can see it. A poster must be displayed at all locations even if there are no eligible employees.　

The FMLA includes a special leave entitlement that permits eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a covered servicemember during a single 12-month period. The revised federal FMLA poster clarifies the definition of a "veteran" under the new regulations to include not only those currently serving, but also those discharged in the past five years. The federal poster also has other mandatory revisions to conform to the agency regulations.

The regulations do not take effect until March 8, 2013 -- 30 days after the publication of the final rule. The new poster has a revision date of February 2013. The DOL has indicated that employers may either start using the new poster immediately or may use the old FMLA poster through March 7, 2013.  

The new poster, available for free downloading, must be posted no later than March 8, 2013.

Employee Rights and Responsibilities Under the Family and Medical Leave Act Poster:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmlaen.pdf

Tips for printing the poster:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmla.htm