Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a law that was passed that not very many people know or understand. Many people get upset when they are not granted leaves of absence or when they are granted them but then are not offered their job back because they do not know the exact guidelines of the law. It is important to know payroll laws for the simple fact that it will affect everyone's job at one point in time or another. Being knowledgeable in the payroll laws allows people to work easier in their profession because they know what is and what is not allowed of them. This paper will research the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and point out the main points that people should understand about the law. It will also look at how the law has impacted people both positive and negative.

"The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires employers that have 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius, for at least 20 weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, to grant workers unpaid leave for a family or medical emergency" (Bieg, 2007). The beginning of the law states some of the major restrictions right in it such as having to have 50 or more employees. Many people think that they are to be granting medical leave whether or not there are two employees or 500 employees. The problem is that smaller companies cannot go long periods of time without their employees. That is why the law was set up to allow employers of 50 or more to do it because they may be a little more ready to handle someone being gone for a long period of time.

Another rule is that employees must have worked at the place of employment for 12 months or 1,250 hours (DOL, 2007). Many people think they are entitled to the medical leave whenever they want as long as they are employed by an employer. There are also many other restrictions on what the leave is permitted for such as close relatives. The FMLA only allows leave for immediate family members, not all the family members that are related to the employee. If this were the case, there may be many more FMLA requests then there are.

One of the biggest reasons that there are not an extremely large amount of requests is because it is unpaid time off. The employer is not obligated to pay the employee during an FMLA leave although they are required to have the job position open for the person when they come back. Many people cannot go twelve weeks without pay and therefore do not take advantage of the entire program.

All of the rules and regulation of the law make it difficult to understand, but it is still there for a good purpose. There are many things that the FMLA covers that help people that need the time off including time for pregnancy and recovery from a pregnancy. Physical therapy is covered as well as substance abuse recovery. Serious health conditions and to care for family members with serious health conditions only including immediate family members is also covered (DOL, 2007). Having the FMLA in these situations can help out extremely well so that people can take some time off work to deal with what they need to deal with and still have a job if they come back making it much easier to handle the problems. Although the person I guaranteed to have a job when they come back it may not be the exact same job. They are guaranteed to have a comparable position they had when they left (Bieg, 2007).

This act was created for the simple fact to allow employees to take time off work if they need it to deal with personal issues. It allows the person to take time off and not have to worry about not having a job. It also helps the companies because it does not count towards an unemployment change and raise their taxes. The benefits are both social and economical because it helps both sides. The benefits socially are the employees being able to take time off of work and the economical benefits are the employees being able to go back to their original job.

There are some changes that people are trying to make to the law which would actually take some of the people's rights away. The people that are proposing the changes argue that there are not enough details in the laws to make sure that the employers are covered and not taken advantage of. "In an 18-month period in 1999 and 2000, nearly 24 million Americans took leave from work for an FMLA-covered reason, according to the Labor Department's most recent figures. FMLA is often used because not all companies grant sick leave or disability coverage" (Armour, 2005). The law apparently has cost employers over $21 billion in one year because of the compliance issues related to keeping the position open and trying to sustain normal business. It is not uncommon that laws be challenged because they are costing companies money, but the FMLA is an extremely important law that makes sure people that cannot work still have a job when they are recovered. This article was written in 2005 and I could not find any information on any recent changes to the law that has actually hurt the employee's rights.

The law is still in effect and still helps out millions of Americans take a leave of absence from work for personal time. Probably the biggest reason that people take time off under the FMLA is for pregnancy. As women's rights continue to become more equal in the workplace, acts like these must stay in place to keep a fair playing field. Many employers will not rehire an employee after they have a child because they want another one and will have to take more time off. That is why the FMLA is important so that these women can keep their positions while and after child birth.

There have been many changes to improve the law that include requiring employers to offer more paid sick time or a guaranteed number of sick paid days off. The law is fulfilling what it originally was written for, but as times have changed the improvements that need to happen are apparent. "Approximately 2.7 million employees were eligible for, and needed, family or medical leave in 1999-2000 but did not take leave because they couldn't afford to go without pay" (Barnett, 2007). As stated earlier, many people cannot take the time off without pay since both family members are already working full time just to pay the monthly bills. While many important things happen that the FMLA covers, the people just cannot afford to take advantage of the opportunity.

Another important change that should be made as the economy continues to change is "broaden the Family and Medical Leave Act to include employers with 25 or more workers, extending coverage to an additional 13 million workers nationwide. Provide partial benefits to part-time workers, and give limited leave rights to workers once they've been on the job for 90 days" (Barnett, 2007). This is a very important change since the employers that continue to thrive are small businesses. Most of the businesses in the United States are small businesses and people working for these small businesses are not currently covered under the FMLA since it only covers employers that have over 50 employers.

The FMLA is an excellent law that helps many employees on a yearly basis. Like any law, changes could be made to improve it, but at least it is continuing to help people more and more every year. As the economy continues to change, improvements will surely be made to the act to include different scenarios that were not thought of before that employees need to take a leave of absence for. Even though it needs improvements it is still an excellent way to protect employees from losing their jobs in a time of need.

References
Armour, Stephanie (2005). Family, medical leave act at center of hot debate. USA TODAY, Retrieved October 27, 2007, from http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2005-05-25-medical-leave usat_x.htm

Barnett, Erica (2007). Families Strengthened by Better Sick and Family Leave. WorldChanging, Retrieved October 27, 2007, from http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007364.html

Bieg, Bernard (2007). Payroll Accounting. Mason, OH: Thomson Higher Education.

DOL, (2007). U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 27, 2007, from Compliance Assistance - Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Web site: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/fmla/faq.asp