Coordinating compliance between federal and state leave mandates has become more complex with the expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act that was just signed into law this year.

New coordination-of-leave issues will arise primarily around the FMLA’s new mandate for family members of people who are on or about to go on active duty. The mandate creates an entitlement for up to 12 weeks of leave for the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of a person on or about to leave on military duty for any “qualifying exigency.”

The active duty leave mandate expands the type of family leave available to these workers as long as they have worked 1,250 hours in a 12-month period at a site with at least 50 employees within 75 miles. They are allowed to take the leave intermittently.

An eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a wounded service member may have up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during one 12-month period to care for that person.

Military family leave laws already exist in California, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, and New York. Many of these state laws apply to small employers not covered by the FMLA.

HR practitioners will need to figure out how these leaves work in each state, and whether the leaves can be run concurrently or serially. In California, for example, leave mandated by the state is in addition to that mandated by federal law. Employers with more than 25 employees are required to provide up to 10 days of unpaid leave if a military spouse is on leave from deployment in a combat zone. New York has a similar law.

In Illinois, small employers (those with 15 to 50 employees) must provide up to 15 days of unpaid military family leave to the spouse or parent of a soldier called to military service. Larger employers have to provide up to 30 days of leave.