The Family and Medical Leave Act: Case Studies

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is known as “FMLA.” The FMLA Act was signed into law by President Clinton. The 1993 bill was an election promise of President Clinton's during his first campaign. The president signed the bill into

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

You get the phone call in the middle of the night. Your son or daughter has been in a serious accident and is hospitalized in critical condition. After several day’s they come home from the hospital with several broken bones and require your around the clock attention for the next eight to twelve weeks. You just got over a serious medical condition yourself which you acquired while on vacation and do not have any vacation time or sick time to take off. Do you have to quit your job? Can your employer terminate you for taking time off to be with your child? What options do you have? What can your employer do for you? Well, the answer lies in the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Employers are limited to what they are allowed to ask and employees are allotted time off before being required to provide medical documentation supporting their request for leave. These gaps in detail in the documentation of the Family Medical Leave Act are giving dishonest employees an opportunity to obtain time off without any due explanation. Sue Sumler from the Manufacturers' Alliance/MAPI explains the problems caused by a vague definition of serious health condition. "Because the definition of a 'Serious Health Condition' is vague, almost any¬one can find a physician to certify that they have a chronic condition that meets the definition. Many of this company's intermittent leaves are for migraine headaches. The physician certifies that migraines may occur at any time. Some employees approved for leave for migraine headaches miss four-five days a month and more. For some, it appears that FMLA has given them an extra 60 days off work."

The company in which employee A works for is considered a covered employer because the company employs more than fifty employees for which is assumed for more than twenty weeks each year. Employee A has worked for the covered employer for two years, which makes him a covered employee based on the given information. Employee A was not required to give advanced notice due to the unforeseen circumstances of the premature birth. Upon employee A’s return, he was given his original job back along with the same rate of pay. Since employee A took leave under the FMLA, his leave is considered unpaid and the eleven weeks of pay are not required to be given to the employee. In the case of employee A, no violation has been committed.

The Family and Medical Leave Act sets regulations for job-protected leave related to family and medical reasons. FMLA applies to organizations with 50 or more employees working within 75 miles of the employee’s worksite (“Employment Laws,” n.d., para. 6). Employees who have been with their current employer for 12 months and who have worked 1250 hours of service in the previous 12 months are eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave through FMLA (“Eligibility Requirements,” Revised 2013). FMLA covers the following leave reasons:

In this given situation the Employee’s FMLA right was satisfied when he was granted the leave. The Employee met all requirements to be granted leave because he was with a company that had over 50 employees for over 2 years. The 2 years that customer worked satisfied the requirement of working a total of 12 months before leave can be granted. Also, since the Employee’s leave was for birth care that was a valid reason for asking for the leave.

I would recommend Company X create a policy that documents FMLA procedures and clarifies what to expect while on leave (salary and benefits).

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was enacted to offer relief and protection to those workers

Some history on the case, Francis started working with Elsevier in 1991. The role of his employment was that of a production assistant. After a while, he was rehired after a company restructuring in which his new position was that of an associate database publishing editor. The main problem of the case concerns his wife's condition, amytrophic lateral sclerosis. Due to her condition he considered his potential rights under the Family Leave Act with a human resources representative from the company. A boss change led to him being interviewed with a new supervisor where he discussed his wife's condition. Shortly after he was dismissed. "Randall Francin had worked at Mosby, Inc., for twelve years before his wife was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (LouGehrig's disease). "(Cross & Miller, 540) I believe if Francin's wife's condition was not discussed his performance would not have come into question. From the evidence presented especially after the appeal, I believe he was unlawfully terminated considering the close timing of his dismissal after it was known of his wife's condition.

Employee A meets the requirements for coverage under the FMLA. He has worked for the company for 2 years, which fulfills the minimum requirement of 1250 hours on the job. The birth of a child is specifically provisioned for and the premature nature of the birth excludes him from the requirement of providing 30 days’ notice. Upon return he was given his original position at the same rate of pay, which fulfills the obligation of the employer per the FLMA. Employee A asked for his leave to be paid retroactively, but as this is not a requirement in the FMLA the request was appropriately denied. Nothing was mentioned either for or against the employee using his paid time off for the leave.

What is Family and Medical leave Act (FMLA)? The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that was passed in 1993, is a national policy that grants workers up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave in four situations. These four situations are for pregnancy; to care for an infant, such as newborns, newly-placed foster children, and adoptions; to care for a relative with a serious health condition; or to allow an employee to recover and recuperate from a personal serious health condition. This paper will be discussing the impact of FMLA on employers and the protections provided by this law. (Vikesland, 2009)

The federal government passed the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993. The FMLA only applies to employers with 50 or more employees, except government agencies and schools. The employee must have worked for at least 12 months and worked at least 1250 hours within those last 12 months. Employees have up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave each year with no threat of job loss. It also requires that employers covered by the law maintain the health benefits for eligible workers just as if they were working. Family Medical Leave Act is important to employees for many reasons. The first reason is employees will not be worried about their job when they take off, since their job is secure under FMLA.

     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 Family and Medical Aid Act (FLMA), of 1993, provides for 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for certain specified events (8). Whilst one could refer to this as maternity or paternity leave if taken because of a pregnancy, this would not be strictly true. Where maternity and paternity leave are offered around the