THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

The Family and Medical Leave Act

The Family and Medical Leave Act

Introduction

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which is intended to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, became effective for most employers in August 1993. The passage of the FMLA represented a legislative reaction to dramatic changes in the U.S. workforce that had taken place over the previous 40 years. During that period, the number of female workers in the civilian labor force increased by more than 200%. In addition, the American population is aging, leading some analysts to predict that an increasing percentage of workers will have some caregiving responsibility for an older family member (Wisensale, 2006). The number of single-parent households has also increased substantially as a result of increases in the number of unwed mothers and higher rates of separation and divorce. At the time of its passage, between 40% and 50% of the nation's workforce was estimated to be covered by the FMLA.

Coverage

The FMLA defines private employers as those engaged in commerce or industry with 50 or more eligible employees each working day during 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. In addition, the FMLA covers public agencies or employers and their political subdivisions, the most important of which, for this entry, are school boards. The FMLA also specifically applies to private elementary and secondary schools (Wexler, 2005).

The FMLA includes a special rule for schools. According to this rule, any school system “would not be eligible for FMLA leave if the school has fewer than 50 employees and there are no other schools under the jurisdiction of the same employer (usually a school board) within 75 miles” (29 U.S.C. § 825.600(b)). Regardless of size and level of coverage, all schools are subject to the FMLA's record-keeping requirements.

In order to be covered by the FMLA, employees, including both full- and part-time, must have worked for their employers for at least 12 months, providing at least 1,250 hours of service during the year immediately preceding the start of leave (Waldfogel, 2007).

Private-sector employers are covered by the FMLA if they are engaged in an industry or activity affecting commerce and if they employ 50 or more employees at a single work site or 50 or more employees at a group of work sites within a 75-mile radius for each working day during 20 weeks of the preceding or current calendar year. Contractual bargaining agreements that have arbitration clauses do not preempt claims under the FMLA. Public agencies—that is, federal and state governments, political subdivisions of the states, and private secondary and elementary schools—also are covered without regard to the number of employees (King, 2006).

Leave Eligibility

The major provision of the FMLA is that an eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period, to be used for specifically designated medical or family-related reasons. An eligible employee is an individual who has been employed for at least 12 months and has ...