The Family Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was created to help assist employees deal with the difficulties of home, while creating an atmosphere of job security. The FMLA also helps cover employers from wrongful use of the FMLA by the employees. Although the document is extensive, there are three major provisions of the FMLA that apply to the given situation. The FMLA entitles covered employees to unpaid work leave, provides job and benefit restoration, and allows employers to require notice and certification for leave ("Family and medical leave act," 2007).

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 enacted to offer relief and protection to those workers

As described on Facts About Age Discrimination (2008), the ADEA provides protection against age discrimination for both applicants and employees during the hiring and employment termination process. For employees the ADEA protects against age being a factor in opportunities for promotion, assignment of benefits and selection for layoffs. With few exceptions the ADEA prohibits employers from including age as a criterion when advertising or posting notice for available jobs. The ADEA explicitly protects “whistleblowers” against retaliation as a result of filing an age discrimination

For this article, we were asked to research a subject related to our academic studies. Since I am attending in hopes of getting a degree in Human Relations, I chose Family Medical Leave Act, FMLA, as my subject. I currently work in Human Resources and handle FMLA cases as part of my responsibilities; however, there is so much involved I struggle with always knowing the proper steps to take with each case. Therefore, for this assignment, I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity and choose a subject that would not only complete the assignment, but also help me in my work life.

The Family Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993 and updated in 2008 and 2009. The law requires employers with 50 or more employees to allow up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. The provision of the law would allow employees who have worked for one year and have worked at least 1,250 hours to use the unpaid leave for family or medical reasons (DeCenzo 267). It is important to note that the employee does not have to work for one year of continuous service, any combination of weeks worked that equal to 52 weeks makes and employee eligible for FMLA leave. If the employee has a break of seven years or longer, that time does not have to be counted towards the 52 weeks (United States Dept of Labor, 2017). To count the

To be eligible for a family leave an employee must work for a covered employer and satisfy the following requirements*:

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.

During the time leading up to the passing of the FMLA, Congress came to the realization that there were many people dealing with family crises who were finding themselves jobless after taking off time to look after a sick relative or in order to return to a normal state of health themselves (Albiston, p. 3). The intentions of passing FMLA by Congress were to grant employees an attainable work-family balance, giving them some peace of mind when it comes to remaining employed all while having the ability focusing on familial matters (Albiston, p. 3).

The workplace has changed in many ways. In the past there was stereotyping, gender discrimination, bad conditions, and less freedom and benefits for employees. Nowadays employers take precautions not to make any of those blunders. New laws and company policies helped improve the workplace. One reform that was established was the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, also known as the FMLA. This act helped employees and employers take personal leave. The main reason why the Family Medical Leave Act was created was due to gender discrimination. Females were allowed to take leave due to the stereotype that mothers have to take care of the family. Men were discouraged and less likely to take off. The FMLA helped equalize the ability to take leave for

The concept of the FMLA was set in motion through debates over a California law mandating maternity leave for childbirth, which is discussed in greater detail in the “Government” section of this paper. After a federal district court struck down the law in 1984 as sex discrimination against men, Congressman Howard Berman, a Democrat from California, sought help from the National Partnership for Women & Families, then the Women's Legal Defense Fund, in framing a bill that would require employers to grant maternity leave (115). Instead, the National Partnership submitted the idea of a broader leave that would not only meet the needs of new mothers, but address a wider range of work/family conflicts affecting both women and men (116).

     The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted by Congress on February 5, 1993, and it is public law 103-3. This law allows for a person to leave work in certain situations without losing his/her job. An eligible employees must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and at least completed 1250 hours of service. An employee is able to leave work for up to 12 weeks for any of the following reasons: the employee expects a baby in his/her immediate family, the employee expects an adopted child in his/her immediate family, the employee has to take care of an ill family member which includes spouse, parent or his/her own children, and/or the employee has a serious medical

The FMLA entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

     On August 5, 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act became effective for most of the employers and employees covered by the act. The FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons, including serious health conditions that prevent the employee from working. Not only has the FMLA evolved over the years, but also the current application in the workplace environment is very complex for the employee as well as the employer.

Every day in California, working men and women face conflicts between their work responsibilities and their families. In order to work they must make arrangements for their children and elderly family members who need assistance. They address these conflicts through a variety of child-care, after-school, and eldercare arrangements. But sometimes when a child is seriously ill, an aging parent’s health deteriorates suddenly, or a baby is born or adopted, these daily arrangements are no longer adequate. At such times of family need, an employee simply must take time off from work because no alternative care arrangements will do. That is why in 1993, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was