Originally introduced to Congress in 1984, the law took nine years to be passed by Congress and the President (Lenhoff, 2004). Its passing in 1993 was due to increased support from labor unions and promotion among a broad coalition from the Women’s Legal Defense Fund, which is known today as the National Partnership for Women and Families. Due to the laws broad implications for families, including support for caregiving needs of children, ill, and elderly as well as the health of individual workers, several coalition groups had motivations to support the legislation. For example, the legislation garnered support from the U.S. Catholic Conference due to FMLA’s focus on the treatment of mothers following the birth of a child while the American
