FMLA: A Case Study

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) became public law on February 5, 1993. Its purpose is to grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances that will allow the employee to balance the demands of their job with the needs of their families. Some examples of eligible leave are: for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for an (eligible) family member that has a serious health condition or because the employee themselves have a serious health condition and is unable to work for an extended period of time. Further, the FMLA was enacted in order to minimize employment

The balancing act of family and work can be very difficult at times. At some point in everyone’s life, he or she will need to take time off of work to deal with family matters. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was created to help employees find a balance between the challenging demands of work and home. This Act allows eligible workers that require time off for personal reasons or family emergencies up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed with the idea of creating job protected leave when necessary, while also providing employees with the opportunity to balance work, health, and family responsibilities. FMLA is designed to avoid job loss when employees request additional time off in order to treat a critical medical condition or deal with serious family or personal matters. Due to the establishment of FMLA, workers can now maintain employment as they treat qualifying medical conditions, care for a close relative, bond with newborn, etc. In other words, the concept of FMLA was for employers to legally support their workers during life’s challenging circumstances. Although many positive outcomes are a result of this law, administering FMLA has turned into a challenging and complex task for employers. Passing this law triggered many unintended consequences that have tremendously affected the way organizations manage their leave of absence policies. Employee abuse of this privilege is a major issue employers are being faced with. The impact FMLA leave has on the entire company, including quality, performance, and productivity can be dramatic. These unplanned concerns that now exist due to FMLA provide tremendous amounts of stress for the employers to properly manage the law; FMLA has turned into a problem employers are defenseless against.

website. This link will take to the user to a new page where the user will then click a link titled “Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).”

Furthermore, the FMLA excludes employees in most workplaces having fewer than 50 employees and excludes employees who do not have sufficient tenure (Armenia, Gerstel, Wing, 2014). According to surveys, most worksites are not covered by the FMLA because they're too small even though more than half of employees are eligible for the protections of the FMLA (Kelly, 2010). Only 1 in 6 worksites reports that it is covered by FMLA with about 30 % of worksites reporting that they are unsure if they are covered (Kelly, 2010). These uncovered and unsure worksites tend to be small and covered worksites tend to be larger (Hayes et. al, 2012). Then, only 59 % of American workers and less than 20 % of all new mothers are eligible for the FMLA (Sholar,

Family and Medical Leave Act can be costly for employers. When Congress formulated the FMLA law, what was not forseen was the open door to abuse by irresponsible employees and the detriment imposed on the healthcare and public service sectors. According to a study by the Employment Policy foundation, a Washington, D.C. research group, FMLA cost employers over $21 billion dollars in 2004. This represents the most current statistical information available.

Before 1993, there was no family and medical leave legislation in the United States. It was the only major industrialized country without one; and at that time, employers had the legal right to fire employees who needed to take time off to look after seriously ill family members. They could even legally fire women that required time off for pregnancy and childbirth if they were also denying time off for employees who were not pregnant when they were unable to work (Albiston, p. vii).

The Family Medical Leave Act, deals with the laws regarding “eligible” employees taking off up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for their child's birth, adopting a child, taking care of an ill family member, or if they themselves have a serious health condition (Vikesland, 2006). In order to be considered an eligible employee, you must work for a company that employs at least fifty people, have worked there for a year and have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours in that year. “The employee also has the right to return to the same or equivalent position, pay, and benefits at the conclusion of their leave” (Vikesland, 2006).

The Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, is “a federal law that provides unpaid, job-protested leave to eligible employees, both male and female, to care for their families or themselves for specified family and medical conditions”, which was passed in 1993 (Seccombe, 2012, p.

The government understood the difficulty of balancing work and childcare. As mentioned previously, FMLA permits mother to take medical leave for the period of time during which they are physically unable to work due to pregnancy, childbirth, recovery and related medical conditions. Additionally, both parents to take leave for the birth of a child, and for the placement of a child for adoption or foster. Thus, the leave allows the parents to bond with their child within one year of the child’s birth or placement. Nevertheless, according Gomby and Pei (2009), the two most important determinants of whether parents take leave are if the leave is paid and job-protected. Although FMLA provides job protection, it is unpaid, therefore many parents decide not to take it or may return to work earlier than they would have wanted to so they can support their

“The FMLA can have a negative impact on both small and large employers due to the law’s regulatory and administrative complexity” (Leonard, 2000). FMLA created a sense of burden for employers and their management team, as they were responsible in finding suitable replacements to fill in for employees who are out on FMLA leave. This would have eventually slowed down the employer's productivity causing profit losses, which employer's do not want to see happen.

Family Medical Leave Act provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year, dependent on time of service. It also protects an employees’ job and maintains health benefits during their time off. FMLA is to help employees balance family and work responsibilities by taking leave for certain family and medical reasons that is unpaid. According to regulations, employers must provide unpaid leave for a birth and/or care of a newborn child, adoption or foster care of a child, care of an

As I am sure you know the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) took effect in 1993 to help balance workplace demands with the medical needs of employees and their families. The Act allows qualified employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period. According to the Department of Labor website you may also use FMLA for what is referred to as "birth and bonding" an extended parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and for bonding with a new foster child. However, the United States is the only industrialized

In this situation, the employee requested and was granted leave to be with his spouse who had given birth to premature twins. The Family Medical Leave Act, requires that Company X provide the employee with up to 12 weeks of leave per calendar year to care for his own health needs, or those needs of an immediate family member, such as a spouse, parent or child. Employees are eligible for up to twelve weeks of FMLA if the company has more than fifty employees, who commute within seventy-five miles of the work location. Company X and it’s employees met this qualification. FMLA leave can be taken be continuously, intermittently or even at a reduced schedule, such as half-days. In order for any employee to request FMLA leave they must have worked for the company at least twelve months prior to requesting the leave, and they must have worked at least 1250 hours. The FMLA provides job protection for employees needing to take time off in order to address any personal sicknesses, health issues, or those of their immediate family members, such as the one presented in this situation. FMLA guarantees that the employees current job, current salary, along with their health benefits remain intact during the time they are on leave and while they are attending to the health situation. When the employee returns they must be put back into either their former position or a position that is equal to the one that they left if their former position was required to be filled. According to

Paid family and medical leave is defined as period of time in which an employee can take time off to take care of personal needs and still receive partial wages. Thus far, paid family and medical leave is provided independently in five states: California, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Rhode Island. It is funded differently in every state, but in most cases, money for paid leave comes from a small payroll tax or payroll deductions. In California and Rhode Island, paid family and medical leave is completely employee paid, while in New Jersey, it is a shared responsibility between employers and employees (Boushey). Currently, the only national legislation that addresses family and medical leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) enacted in 1993. The FMLA provides only up to twelve weeks of job protection and unpaid leave with continuing benefits for both men and women who have worked for his/her current employer for at least twelve months, logged at least 1,250 hours for his/her current employer in the previous year, and has work at a worksite that is within seventy-five miles of at least fifty employees of the employer (Shuit). Although the FMLA has been utilized by millions of Americans, its stringent eligibility requirements and the lack of education among the working population disable a large majority of employees to take advantage of its benefits. On its own, the FMLA fails to provide the resources that working-class employees need