Vermont Gov. 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 10 or more employees. The law also broadens the definition of “family member” found in the law. The amendments went into effect 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.
The amendment introduces to Vermont law a new entitlement to “safe leave.” Safe leave refers to a leave of absence from employment because the employee or employee’s family member is a victim or alleged victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking and the employee is using the leave to seek or obtain medical care, counseling, or social or legal services, to recover from injuries, to participate in safety planning, to relocate or secure safe housing, to respond to a fatality or near fatality related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, or to meet with a state’s attorney or law enforcement officer. The law allows covered Vermont employees to utilize their 12 weeks of family leave for any of these events.
Qualifying exigency leave will be available to employees when the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on covered active duty or called to covered active-duty status in the U.S. military, including the National Guard and Reserves. Qualifying exigency leave allows for employees to access the 12 weeks of leave available under the act.
In addition to safe and qualifying exigency leave, the law introduces a bereavement leave entitlement to the act. While bereavement leave counts against an employee’s overall 12-week entitlement, Vermont employees taking bereavement leave under the act will be limited to taking leave for not more than five workdays taken consecutively within one year of the family member’s death. Bereavement leave will be available due to the death of the individual’s “family member” as defined in the new law and includes leave taken in relation to the administration or settlement of the deceased family member’s estate.
Samuel H. Martin is an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Portsmouth, N.H. © 2025 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.
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