Marking the 25th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) today, the Congressional Office of Compliance (OOC) is releasing its new online training video covering the FMLA’s application to the legislative branch. The 15-minute instructional video, which includes animation and quizzes, covers eligibility, qualifying situations, and the process for requesting FMLA leave.
“During the course of their careers, most employees will need to rely on the protections that Congress provided in the FMLA,” said OOC Executive Director Susan Tsui Grundmann. “Facing extended absences from work for childbirth and adoption, recovery from surgery, military deployment, or increased medical needs of an immediate family member can be very challenging. This training was created to help employees and employing offices better understand the FMLA and how it works.”
The Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) applies to covered employees certain rights and protections of the FMLA, along with 12 other workplace laws. Individual employing offices may give more than the law requires, but must provide no less than 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during a 12-month period to eligible employees for qualified family and health reasons.
The FMLA training, which the OOC can also provide in-person, is part of a growing catalog of training opportunities offered by the Office of Compliance in its recent #taketime2train campaign. In December 2017, the office released a 40-minute online module entitled “Recognizing and Preventing Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace,” which provides an overview of laws prohibiting discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. It examines roles that employees, managers, and bystanders have in preventing offensive conduct and reporting and correcting behaviors that could contribute to a hostile work environment.
The FMLA video can be viewed here. Other current online and in-person training opportunities in the 2018 catalog include: Orientation to the Office of Compliance and Congressional Workplace Rights, Navigating the Dispute Resolution Program, Preventing Disability Discrimination, and Risk Factors for Harassment and Responses, which focuses on bystander issues. To access the OOC’s online Learning Management System, which will include the new FMLA module, start here. (New users: enter an email and create a password.)
