Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Maine benefits
employmentstate

Fifteen Days of Family Military Leave — for the Spouse, Domestic Partner or Parent of Somebody Deployed

An employer with 15 or more employees must give an eligible employee up to 15 days of family military leave per deployment, taken in the 15 days before deployment, during it if the member gets leave, or in the 15 days after. It is available to the spouse, domestic partner or parent of a Maine resident deployed for longer than 180 days. The leave may be unpaid, but the job — or an equivalent one — must be there afterwards.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

An employer with 15 or more employees must give an eligible employee up to 15 days of family military leave per deployment, taken in the 15 days before deployment, during it if the member gets leave, or in the 15 days after. It is available to the spouse, domestic partner or parent of a Maine resident deployed for longer than 180 days. The leave may be unpaid, but the job — or an equivalent one — must be there afterwards.

What it's worth: Up to 15 days of protected leave per deployment, with restoration to the same or an equivalent position

  • The 15 is days of leave per deployment, not a payment. The section says the leave may consist of unpaid leave, so the money value is the job and the benefits kept rather than wages received.
  • The employer-size floor is 15 or more employees. Below that the section imposes nothing.
  • Benefit continuation is at the employee’s expense unless the employer agrees otherwise, so budget for the premium.

Who is entitled to it

  • The leave is written for the spouse, domestic partner or parent of the deployed person.
  • You are in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: 14 days’ notice for leave of 5 or more consecutive work days
  1. 1Check the deployment first, because the definition is strict twice over. "Deployed for military service" means active duty with the state military forces or the United States Armed Forces including the Guard and Reserves, whether under orders of the Governor or the President, WHEN THE DUTY ASSIGNMENT IS IN A COMBAT THEATRE OR IN AN AREA WHERE ARMED CONFLICT IS TAKING PLACE.
  2. 2Then check the length: family military leave is defined as leave requested by the spouse, domestic partner or parent of a person who is a resident of the State and is deployed for a period lasting LONGER THAN 180 DAYS.
  3. 3Check your own service record with the employer. "Employee" here means somebody employed by the same employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months immediately preceding the leave.
  4. 4Pick the window. The leave may be taken only in the 15 days immediately before deployment, during deployment if the military member is granted leave, or the 15 days immediately following the deployment.
  5. 5Give 14 days’ notice if the leave will be 5 or more consecutive work days. For fewer than 5 days, give advance notice as is practicable, and consult with the employer to schedule it so as not to unduly disrupt operations.
  6. 6Expect a certification request. The employer may require certification from the proper military authority to verify eligibility.
  7. 7Arrange the benefits before you go. The employer must make it possible for you to continue employee benefits at your own expense during the leave, and you and the employer may negotiate for the employer to carry them instead. Nothing accrued before the leave is lost.
  8. 8On return you are entitled to be restored to the position held when the leave commenced, or to a position with equivalent seniority status, employee benefits, pay and other terms and conditions — unless the employer proves the failure to restore was for conditions unrelated to your exercise of these rights.
  9. 9If the employer interferes, or disciplines or discriminates against you for using the leave or for opposing a practice the section makes unlawful, subsection 8 lets you bring a civil action in Superior Court, and the court may enjoin the practice and order other equitable relief.
Form
Request to the employer, with military certification if the employer asks for it
File with
Your employer
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is widely listed as leave for "the family of a deployed servicemember". Two limits cut most families out. The relationship list is spouse, domestic partner or PARENT — an adult child of a deployed reservist is not on it. And the deployment must be to a combat theatre or an area where armed conflict is taking place, for longer than 180 days.
CorrectionThe leave is not a state payment and is not administered by any agency. It is a duty on the employer, enforced by the employee in Superior Court. There is nowhere to apply and nobody to appeal to.
Worth knowingThe 1,250-hour test is the federal family and medical leave threshold reused, so an employee already eligible for FMLA leave from the same employer will usually clear it. A part-time employee below 1,250 hours in the preceding year will not.
Worth knowingThe floor is a floor only. A collective bargaining agreement or benefit plan may give greater leave rights, and the section says the rights it provides may not be diminished by either.
Known gapWhether "an area where armed conflict is taking place" has been construed by the Maine Department of Labor or any court, and how a deployment extended past 180 days after it began is treated, were not researched this session.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.