I have some questions regarding Military leave and the FMLA. I really don't understand what governs military leave but I know that the FMLA applies to family members of a covered service member.
First, when we receive notice of military leave by an employee, we thank them for their military services but our policy does not address anything about pay during the leave. Should it? What should it cover?
Second, I think military members can use paid time off during their leave, right? Can we automatically pay them their PTO or do they have to tell us to do that? Do we need to define anything regarding exempt or non-exempt status of the employee and does this create any issues?
Finally, we have a nice policy where you accrue PTO for in case of needing to use the FMLA leave. Over one year of service we pay up to 40 hours, etc. The question then comes, should we allow the military leave people to use that same PTO thereby broadening it to cover more than just FMLA leave?
Some of these are straight up questions and some are more opinion type questions. I appreciate any help any of you can give. I know a bit about FMLA but not much about Military Leave. Thanks.

