Vermont Governor Phil Scott has signed legislation extending the protections of the state’s unpaid family leave law. The expansion extends safe leave, bereavement leave, and qualifying exigency leave to employees of employers with ten or more employees. The law also broadens the definition of “family member” found in the law. The amendments will become effective on July 1, 2025.
Vermont’s existing family leave law allowed for covered employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave related to their own serious illness or that of their child, stepchild, ward, foster child, party to a civil union, parent, spouse, or parent of the worker’s spouse. The expansion of the definition of “family member” extends this benefit to qualifying events related to the employee’s spouse or civil union or domestic partner, biological, adopted, or foster child, stepchild or legal ward, a child of the employee’s spouse or domestic partner, a legal guardian of the employee or the employee’s spouse, or a person to whom the employee stands (or stands for the employee) in loco parentis or stood in loco parentis prior to the person turning 18, regardless of legal documentation. The law also covers any individual for whom the employee provides caregiving responsibilities similar to those of a parent-child relationship as well as grandparents, grandchildren, or siblings of the employee or the employee’s spouse.
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