Last week, I reported that a federal district court in Texas had halted the DOL’s enforcement of its final rule that would allow employees to take FMLA leave for their same-sex spouse.
Following that court order, the DOL now has represented that it will not enforce the rule in the four states covered by the decision — Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Nebraska. In a court filing, the DOL said in no uncertain terms:
[W]hile the preliminary injunction remains in effect, the [DOL does] not intend to take any action to enforce the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) . . . against the states of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, or Nebraska, or officers, agencies, or employees of those states acting in their official capacity, in a manner that employs the definition of the term “spouse” contained in the February 25, 2015, final rule . . . .
In the same filing, however, the DOL confirmed it will enforce the rule as to employers located in the other 46 states. ¡Ay de mi! Best wishes to that poor employer with operations in multiple states, including some inside and outside those four states. Call your favorite employment counsel to assist with these land mines!
Today (April 10), the court heard the DOL’s motion to reconsider the court’s earlier ruling prohibiting excitement, and it refused to overturn the ruling, according to a press release issued by the Texas Attorney General.
Jeff Nowak is a Partner at the law firm of Franczek Radelet and serves as co-chair of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice and was named by Law Bulletin Publishing as one of Illinois’ top “40 Attorneys Under 40” to watch in 2012. Jeff is widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost FMLA and ADA experts, regularly counseling clients on compliance with FMLA and ADA regulations, conducting FMLA/ADA audits and training, and successfully litigating FMLA and ADA lawsuits. Jeff is the author of the firm’s highly regarded FMLA Insights blog, which has been selected for four consecutive years by the ABA Journal as one of the top 100 legal blogs (2011-2014) and was also voted the No. 2 Labor and Employment blog by LexisNexis.
The above article first appeared in FMLA Insights and is reprinted with Jeff’s permission.
