Entitlement

  • Eligible employees with a spouse, son, daughter, or parent on active duty or call to active duty status in the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation may use their 12-week leave entitlement to address certain qualifying exigencies. Qualifying exigencies may include attending certain military events, arranging for alternative childcare, addressing certain financial and legal arrangements, attending certain counseling sessions, and attending post-deployment reintegration briefings. 

    Military Family Leave also includes a special leave entitlement that permits eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of leave to care for a covered service member during a single 12-month period. A covered service member is a current member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who has a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty that may render the service member medically unfit to perform his or her duties for which the service member is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy; or is in outpatient status; or is on the temporary disability retired list. 

     

For Additional Information

  • Contact the nearest office of the , listed in most telephone directories under U.S. Government, Department of Labor. 

    The protects the job rights of individuals who voluntarily or involuntarily leave employment positions to undertake military service or certain type of service in the National Disaster Medical System. USERRA also prohibits employers from discriminating against past and present members of the uniformed services, and applicants to the uniformed services

Eligibility

  • The eligibility requirement for Military Family Leave is determined by the Family Medical Leave Act because the Alaska Family Leave Act does not have a military leave provision. An employee is eligible for Military Family Leave if the employee has been employed by ASD for at least one year and for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. 

     

Job Benefits and Protection

  • During Military Family Leave, the employer must maintain the employee’s health coverage under any group health plan on the same terms as if the employee had continued to work.  Upon return from Military Family Leave, most employees must be restored to their original or equivalent positions with equivalent pay, benefits and other employment terms. 

    Use of Military Family Leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that accrued prior to the start of an employee’s leave.