Obama administration expands family leave to LGBT parents

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a rule clarification June 22 that allows LGBT workers to qualify for family leave to care for any child with whom they have a parenting relationship.

The department said it “clarified the definition of ‘son and daughter’ under the Family and Medical Leave Act to ensure that an employee who assumes the role of caring for a child receives parental rights to family leave regardless of the legal or biological relationship.”

“This action is a victory for many non-traditional families, including families in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community, who often in the past have been denied leave to care for their loved ones,” the department said.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis commented: “No one who loves and nurtures a child day-in and day-out should be unable to care for that child when he or she falls ill. … No one who intends to raise a child should be denied the opportunity to be present when that child is born simply because the state or an employer fails to recognize his or her relationship with the biological parent. … The Labor Department’s action today sends a clear message to workers and employers alike: All families, including LGBT families, are protected by the FMLA.”

Under the act, companies with 50 or more employees must grant eligible workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for the birth and care of a newborn child, to adopt or assume care for a foster child, to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or to take medical leave due to a serious health condition. Because of the anti-gay federal Defense of Marriage Act, the new rule clarification applies only to parent-child relationships and does not recognize any same-sex partnership or marriage that may have created a parent-child relationship.

By Rex Wockner