Leave Rules May Tighten

Groups representing workers said regulators have relied on anecdotal complaints from companies to shape the proposal, instead of coming up with empirical data.

Southwest Airlines, the largest low-fare air carrier, said its employees commonly take intermittent, unscheduled leave, which doesn't require an explanation for up to two days after it is taken.

Abuse of the law "has made coming to work optional for too many employees," the Dallas company said.

Comments on the new proposal are due by April 11.

In some cases, the proposed changes try to clear up ambiguities in the current policy. One would require an employee wanting to use vacation time to get paid for family leave to follow the company's paid-leave policy, a practice not now clearly defined.

The proposal would clear up a debate on whether employees taking family leave would still be eligible for perfect attendance awards. They probably won't.

As Honda put it: "The purpose of a perfect attendance bonus is to reward those who are at work."

Lipnic said there is some urgency to complete the rulemaking because it contains a new provision for military families that would allow 26 weeks of leave for the care of a service member with a serious illness or injury.

The political landscape may be another reason for the administration's urgency. A Senate subcommittee held a hearing on the law Feb. 13, with Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) calling for an expansion to include "at least eight weeks" of paid family leave.

Democratic presidential contenders Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois both support expanding the family leave program.

Cindy Skrzycki is a regulatory columnist for Bloomberg News. She can be contacted atcskrzycki@bloomberg.net.