Family and Medical Leave Act Covers Married Gay Couples

With respect to the Family Medical Leave Act, the Department of Labor has actually recently revised it’s definition of spouse as it pertains to benefits under the Family Medical Leave Act. In other words, the Department of Labor looks at where the spouse was married, and whether or not that marriage was legal in that state versus where the employee resides and whether or not marriage is legal in that state. This is called the Place of Celebration Rule. So the Department of Labor will look to see whether or not the employee entered into a legal marriage and will enforce the benefits to that employee for the benefit of that employee.