Preview

Fmla

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1014 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fmla
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.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993 and allows employees to take unpaid leave for up to 12 workweeks in any 12 month period because of any of the following reasons: the birth or adoption of a child, for the care of a family member with a serious health condition, or because the employee's own serious health conditions makes the employee unable to perform the functions of her or her job. This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to both the employer and the employee concerning this act. The current use of FMLA and management concerns over the FMLA will also be discussed.

Employee Benefits & Disadvantages

The FMLA benefits the employee by allowing an individual to take up to 12 workweeks off if their situation is one of the reasons covered under FMLA. Accumulated sick leave and vacation time can be used in conjunction with the FMLA period of absence, but once the pay benefits run out, the employer is not required to pay the employee for the rest of the time the employee is on the FMLA leave of absence.

To be eligible to file for an FMLA leave, the employee must have been employed for 12 months or have worked at least 1,250 hours for the employer. The employee is also eligible for health care coverage while taking FMLA leave. In

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    References: Kelly, E. L. (2010). Failure to Update: An Institutional Perspective on Noncompliance With the Family and Medical Leave Act. Law & Society Review, 44(1), 33-66. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5893.2010.00395.x…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paid Maternity Leave

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This led to the revival of the question on maternity leave. Becoming a new parent is a huge undertaking, and for mothers who are forced to take unpaid family leave, the situation becomes infinitely more challenging. Paid maternity leave is needed to encourage women to take time off to cope with the formidable health implications of childbirth rather than rushing back to work. Taking advantage of this policy will not only benefit women’s health, but will be economically profitable to women and individual businesses. Considering these facts, the United States should institute a law requiring paid maternity leave to working…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    for any leave that an employee will need. Anything from the need to take a vacation to the days…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fmla Pros And Cons

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page

    According to the United States Department of Labor, “there are no federal legal requirements for paid sick leave” (). Dependable on an income to provide for their children and families, working…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Persuasive Speech Outline

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages

    3. The FMLA provides protection for workers to take only unpaid leave, which many workers cannot…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Describe who is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. An eligible employee shall be entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leaving during any 12-month period for one or more of the…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Paid Parental Leave

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Page

    Paid parental leave gives advantages to parents, particularly for moms. From the mother's perspective, paid parental leave permits her to take a more extended leave from employment than she could somehow or another have managed and to appreciate additional monetary assistance. Nevertheless, issues emerge with the paid parental leave. The one significant issue is that the mother's connection to the job may be degraded alongside an extended period at home; her skills will decrease and therefore will make impediments to her arrival (Commonwealth of Australia, p. 5.17).…

    • 87 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To be eligible for time off, one’s employer must have fifty or more employees and workers must have put in 1,250 hours in the previous year to be qualified. Less than forty percent of workers qualified because companies strategically identified workers as “part-time” and “independent contractors. Due to stigmas and stereotypes, men are less likely to use their benefits of paid leave which leads to undivided household responsibilites. The FMLA had no positive significant impact on motherhood success because majority of the women who qualified could not afford to lose wages. With limited time off from work, women and children were at high risk for health complications. Mothers neglected their psycological and emotional needs, their children lacked proper health care and they remained static in the workplace. Collectively, individuals, labor, civil right groups and women organizations advocated for paid leave and pushed for more specific protections in states such as California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. Still, that wasn’t enough for everyone to be included. Low-income, minority and young women were least likely to be aware of such essential…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Employee Welfare Law

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Eligible employees must have been with the company for one year and for at least 1,250 hours during the one year preceding the time off (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2007). Also, the employee must give at least 30 days' notice when applicable (child birth for example). The FMLA affects only about 5 percent of U.S. employers and about 40 percent of U.S. employees. Studies have also shown that only one third of eligible workers have used FMLA citing fear of potential retaliation from employers as the reason (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman,…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How To Adopt Infant Home

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In fact, only about half of private sector workers in the US are covered under FMLA requirements. To be covered, an individual must:…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    *A total of 5 sick days a year will be allowed for any parent for the use towards tending to a sick child at no charge to the employee towards the company attendance program. Vacation time will be allowed if the employee has the hours available and the company given 5 paid days is exhausted.…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this scenario, the employee had the right to request unpaid leave to help out the spouse. He has been with the company for two years and the request was to be with his spouse. Under the FMLA Act, he is allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. The leave can be used all at one time or spread out over the span of 12 months to help care for the newborns and/or his wife. He was allowed to return to the same job with the same salary. The company has satisfied the requirements when he was granted his request for the leave.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    * to provide assistance when a dependant falls ill, gives birth or is injured or assaulted; (see Nb.1).…

    • 3227 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parental Leave

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This puts the country on the same playing field as under-developed countries such as Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, and Swaziland (Heymann). In these countries, if women work, they are creating from inside the home. While in America, many women work outside the home. It is impossible for them to care for a newborn and accomplish tasks inside the workplace. This prevents many new mothers from taking their unpaid leave. Mothers may also be hesitant to leave the workplace because of termination. While the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits employers from wrongfully treating or termination a pregnant woman, it still happens. As recent as 2014, Katherine Tremblay sued her engineering company after she was laid-off on account of taking the offered 12-week maternity leave (Gault). Stories like Katherine’s are all too common when women take leave. In fact, in a 2008 survey, approximately 30% of the women surveyed did not take the unpaid leave offered during their last pregnancy (Gault). This is a major issue as length of time off has shown to directly correlate with the health and safety of infants. In a study of over 140 countries, a 9-10% decrease in mortality rates of young children when a parent took 10 weeks leave (Heymann). It has also been shown that children whose parents take parental leave are more likely to receive all recommended vaccinations (Berger). As great as the benefits are for babies, there is also a major benefit for mothers. In a study of 817 Minnesota mothers, it was concluded that the length of leave directly correlates to lower rates of postpartum depression (Gault). While many large corporations, such as Ikea, American Express, Starbucks, and Google, have seen success with their paid parental leave programs (“Glassdoor’s”), many small companies struggle to finance these employees. Many of these businesses…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many cases, couples wait until they reach a financially stable point in their lives with a reliable job for each partner before they make the decision to conceive a child. Experiencing the miracle of childbirth marks the beginning of a new chapter of a couple’s life, where new parents fall in love with the tiny addition to their family and take on enormous caregiving responsibilities. However, parents may not have enough time to balance a job and a newborn. To counter families’ time constraints, governments around the world allow mothers and fathers to take time off from their jobs in an unpaid absence called maternal and paternal leave, respectively. Countries offer paid maternal and/or paternal leave as well.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays