California mandates leave for spouses of those serving in the military

Last week California adopted a new law that requires employers to provide unpaid time off work to an employee with a military spouse who is home on leave. 

All employers with at least 25 employees are subject to the law, including governmental and tax-exempt employers.  Employees working an average of 20 or more hours each week qualify for the benefit.  Qualified employees with a spouse deployed to a designated combat area who returns home on leave are eligible for up to ten days of unpaid leave.  Note that the members of the National Guard or reserves deployed to a combat area are included in the definition of military spouses.

An employee must notify his or her employer within two business days of receiving notice that the military spouse will return home on leave.  The employee must also certify that the military spouse is on leave from deployment during the requested time off.  This statutory leave is in addition to any other leave or benefit that the employee is entitled to receive.  Retaliation against an employee for taking the leave is prohibited.

California is not the first state to adopt such mandatory leave laws and will not be the last.  Such statutes are becoming increasingly popular as the hardships  placed on military families by the war on terror become better appreciated.