CAPLAW eNews Bulletin - May 2019
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Designation of FMLA Leave • Three Proposed FLSA Rules •
2020 Census Guidance • Eliminating Head Start Duration Requirements •
Head Start in Disaster-Affected Areas
DOL Clarifies When Employers Must
Designate FMLA Leave
A recent U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Opinion Letter clarifies that an employer must designate leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) when an employee qualifies for it. The DOL explicitly rejects the notion that an employee may use non-FMLA leave for an FMLA-qualifying reason and save FMLA leave for future use. The opinion supports the understanding that FMLA leave is not intended to provide employees with endless leave options, but rather to provide job-protected leave when an employee meets FMLA-qualifying criteria. An employee may still request, or an employer may require, that FMLA leave run concurrently with employer-provided paid leave. For more information about this Opinion Letter and its application to employers, see this Legal Alert from Ballard Spahr and this Legal Post from Proskauer.
On the Radar: Three Proposed DOL Fair Labor
Standards Act Rules
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued three Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on several aspects of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including overtime pay, regular rates of pay, and joint employer status.
This article describes the proposed changes that CAAs should be aware of, and what CAAs can do to prepare for them.
Each NPRM has a 60-day public comment period during which interested parties can submit comments on the proposed rule for the DOL’s consideration. CAAs interested in providing comments can do so by following the applicable links to Regulations.gov, the online portal for comment submission.
Stay tuned for more information from CAPLAW on these rules as new developments arise.
Asian Law Caucus Releases Guidance
on the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census is just around the corner. The national Community Action Partnership and Community Action Agencies (CAAs) nationwide are gearing up to ensure that the entire community is counted. The Asian Law Caucus’s updated resource, The Citizenship Question, Confidentiality, Language Access, and Other Critical Issues on the 2020 Census, helps to educate community organizations, such as CAAs, about census-related issues and the legal parameters organizations must work within when performing census-related work. This resource examines key aspects of the upcoming 2020 Census, including its importance to communities, data confidentiality, language access, the work of enumerators, and hard-to-count populations. It offers useful legal guidance to better understand the census, the census survey process, and how to comply with requirements related to it. It also presents ways in which community-based organizations can assist community members with Census forms.
As issues associated with the census evolve, the Asian Law Caucus has been updating its brief so we suggest regularly checking its Voting Rights and Census webpage for the latest version. For additional information on the 2020 Census, including what role Community Action can play in it, please visit the National Community Action Partnership’s Census 2020 webpage.
Head Start Proposes Eliminating New Duration RequirementThe Office of Head Start (OHS) proposes to eliminate the full-day, full-year duration requirement for Head Start center-based programs. Currently, Head Start programs are required to provide a minimum of 1,020 annual hours for all center-based slots by August 1, 2021 (45 C.F.R. § 1302.21(c)(2)). This was a significant change under the new Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS), which took effect in November 2016. |
Flexibility for Head Start Grantees in Disaster-Affected Areas The Office of Head Start (OHS) recently issued Information Memorandum (IM) ACF-IM-HS-19-01 addressing Head Start grantees in areas affected by significant natural disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes. The IM offers Head Start programs flexibility in a number of operational areas when resuming or modifying their services to meet the needs of affected children and families, particularly those left homeless by the disaster. |
This e-News Bulletin is part of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Legal Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Center. It was created by Community Action Program Legal Services, Inc. (CAPLAW) in the performance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services Cooperative Agreement – Grant Award Number 90ET0467-02. Any opinion, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
The contents of this publication are intended to convey general information only and do not constitute legal advice. Any communication through this publication or through CAPLAW’s website does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact CAPLAW or another attorney directly.
