Summary

Makes changes to family and medical leave rules for both private-sector FMLA and federal civilian employee leave so more military families and veterans can take caregiving leave. It broadens who counts as a covered family member (including many relatives and domestic partners), expands the types of military duty that trigger leave, and recognizes service‑connected conditions incurred or aggravated in the line of duty as serious health conditions. Also clarifies notice and certification rules and updates statutory language to refer to “employee or covered servicemember,” aligning definitions across the FMLA and federal leave law to expand who is eligible to take up to 26 weeks of caregiving leave for covered servicemembers and veterans.

• Broadens FMLA and federal employee-leave definitions to explicitly include "employee or covered servicemember."
• Expands who counts as a "son or daughter," adding adopted, foster, stepchildren, wards, and children in loco parentis, and includes domestic-partner children in some leave categories.
• Adds domestic partners to the definition of "spouse" for certain servicemember/veteran leave protections.
• Expands covered-duty definitions to include Title 32 duty, certain State active duty, and regular-component foreign deployments or reserve duties tied to deployment.
• Treats service-connected conditions incurred or aggravated in the line of duty on active duty as possible "serious health conditions."
• Clarifies and enlarges the list of relatives eligible for the 26‑workweek servicemember/veteran caregiving leave and includes "other individuals" with family-equivalent relationships.
• Requires reasonable and practicable notice for foreseeable leave and updates medical certification cross-references.
• Does not change overall leave durations but increases the pool of people eligible to take leave under existing entitlements.
• Imposes administrative and HR policy changes for employers and federal agencies to implement the broader definitions and certifications.