Enacted in 1933 by the Clinton administration, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides unpaid time off to assist employees in balancing work and family life. The act supplies up to a total of twelve weeks of unpaid leave during any twelve month period to specific employees. While the establishment of the act has helped some employees balance the demands of work and family, a recent increase of family-leave lawsuits in our country have demonstrated the FMLA’s need for improvement. Enacted improvements to the act and proposed improvements primarily relate to expanding the act’s coverage as well as acknowledging it’s disadvantage of absent income for employees. This paper strives to demonstrate knowledge of the FMLA’s provisions, disadvantages,
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The FMLA defines an “eligible employee” as an employee who has been employed for at least twelve months, and has worked at least 1,250 hours during these twelve months. Similarly to how the provision outlining eligible situations was once disparate to same-sex couples, the provision defining an eligible employee can have a disparate impact on women. Statistically, women work fewer hours than men and are therefore are less likely to meet the work hour requirement of the FMLA. This can be accredited to women being more likely to take less demanding jobs to accommodate their family responsibilities, and various other reasons. While the requirements of the FMLA permit 86% of working men to access unpaid leave, these requirements only permit 73% of working women to access unpaid leave. Additionally, women are more likely to take unpaid leave than men. Women are also more likely to be the primary caretaker at home as opposed to men. This disparate impact is becoming especially concerning in current times where the rate of female employment and female-headed households are increasing. Additionally, these requirements are essentially barring a group of individuals from utilizing the FMLA, when they need it the …show more content…
While this conclusion appears apparent from the act’s language, it also becomes clear when looking at changes made to the act since 1993 which widened its scope. The first changes made to the FMLA were the new rules published by the U.S Department of Labor on January 16, 2009. The most noteworthy of these changes was the expansion of the FMLA’s coverage to individuals providing assistance to members to the military, especially to wounded veterans. This entitlement was significant because it expanded upon the three standard relationships by not requiring a “spouse, child or parent”
The FMLA defines an “eligible employee” as an employee who has been employed for at least twelve months, and has worked at least 1,250 hours during these twelve months. Similarly to how the provision outlining eligible situations was once disparate to same-sex couples, the provision defining an eligible employee can have a disparate impact on women. Statistically, women work fewer hours than men and are therefore are less likely to meet the work hour requirement of the FMLA. This can be accredited to women being more likely to take less demanding jobs to accommodate their family responsibilities, and various other reasons. While the requirements of the FMLA permit 86% of working men to access unpaid leave, these requirements only permit 73% of working women to access unpaid leave. Additionally, women are more likely to take unpaid leave than men. Women are also more likely to be the primary caretaker at home as opposed to men. This disparate impact is becoming especially concerning in current times where the rate of female employment and female-headed households are increasing. Additionally, these requirements are essentially barring a group of individuals from utilizing the FMLA, when they need it the …show more content…
While this conclusion appears apparent from the act’s language, it also becomes clear when looking at changes made to the act since 1993 which widened its scope. The first changes made to the FMLA were the new rules published by the U.S Department of Labor on January 16, 2009. The most noteworthy of these changes was the expansion of the FMLA’s coverage to individuals providing assistance to members to the military, especially to wounded veterans. This entitlement was significant because it expanded upon the three standard relationships by not requiring a “spouse, child or parent”