Whereas, with the continued and ongoing deployment of Maine residents to active military duty, it is necessary that the leave authorized by this legislation become immediately available to the family members of those residents; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 26 MRSA c. 7, sub-c. 5, as amended, is further amended by repealing the subchapter headnote and enacting the following in its place:

SUBCHAPTER 5

LEAVE RELATING TO RESERVE TRAINING

OR MILITARY SERVICE

Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §814 is enacted to read:

§814.__Family military leave

1.__Definitions.__As used in this section, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings.

A. "Employee" means any person who may be permitted, required or directed by an employer in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit to engage in any employment and who has been employed by the same employer for at least 12 months and has been employed for at least 1,250 hours of service during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of the employee's family military leave.__"Employee" includes an independent contractor.

B. "Employee benefits" means all benefits, other than salary and wages, provided or made available to employees by an employer and includes group life insurance, health insurance, disability insurance and pensions, regardless of whether benefits are provided by a policy or practice of an employer.