There are several bills on Capitol Hill designed to provide leave time for families of wounded U.S. soldiers. It is believed likely that some level of expansion of the act to cover military situations will be approved.   California, on the other hand, last month approved a requirement that spouses of a member of the Armed Forces, who is home on leave from a scene of military conflict, may take up to 10 days leave. The act took effect immediately upon Governor Schwarzenegger’s signature on October 9th. Several states are in the process of approving similar legislation.

We did a brief telephone survey of large law firms and found that about half of the firms contacted have provided paid or partially paid time off for spouses of armed forces members on leave. None of the firms we talked to have had occasion to deal with the issue of a severely wounded soldier, but most hypothetically anticipated that the firm would at a minimum provide the employee with appropriate amounts of time off.