Overview of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
On the 5th of February 1993, the president, William J. Clinton, put his signature on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) bill. The FMLA may be defined as a legislation that mandates various companies to provide unpaid leave to its employees. Any company having more than fifty employees has to offer twelve or more weeks yearly to its employees in order to cater for child birth, adoption and a family or personal illness. The beneficiaries of this act not only receive healthcare coverage during the leave but also get reinstated to their previous position upon return. The bill was passed in order to assist American workers in coping with their family responsibilities while dealing with their jobs. The bill's purpose was to prevent Americans from having to choose between work and family.
The Need for Revising the FMLA
After conducting extensive research on the needs of employee rights in terms of providing care for his or her family, it is evident that the Family and Medical Leave Act needs to be revised in order to provide more coverage. The amendment should require all companies regardless of the employee number to implement the bill. The eligibility criteria for the FMLA leave must be changed. The months an employee must be employed with the same employer should reduce to at least six months and the years worked in the prior year reduced to a thousand hours. In addition to this, the act should also include an amendment that caters for paid leave for suitable employees. As a start, employees may be offered 40-50 % of their salary. The amendment of the bill will help American workers in achieving the much-needed work-life balance.
References
Arellano, J. (2015). Don’t Leave U.S. Behind. SAGE Open, 5(2), 215824401558155. doi: 10.1177/2158244015581553
Kornfeld, S. (2018). A Need Not Being Met: Providing Paid Family and Medical Leave for All Americans. Family Court Review, 56(1), 165-179. doi: 10.1111/fcre.12329
Pros and cons of paid parental leave. (2015). Retrieved from https://www.nbc- 2.com/story/30479554/pros-and-cons-of-paid-parental-leave
Scharlach, A., Sansom, S., " Stanger, J. (1995). The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993: How Fully is Business Complying?. California Management Review, 37(2), 66-79. doi: 10.2307/41165789
