FMLA and Its Impact on the Organization - Term Paper Example

?FMLA and Its Impact on the Organization Introduction The FMLA is a US law which was passed to give time to employees to be with their families and to make sure the employer of any organization values their employees’ rights about their family. The law was enacted in the year 1993 and gives the employee time to be with their family for 12 weeks. Mostly, this law is with regard to pregnant mothers or the father of the newborn child, it could be also for the parents who have adopted a child and need time to be together with the child. In addition, families with ailing members are also considered by the enactment of this law (Silverman, 2013). The law does give the employee time off but the time given is not paid by his or her organization. The passing of the law has since covered the time which uses to be given to pregnant mothers before. Conversely, some employers have not been happy with the law since they see that they are losing some part of the working force in the company. Employers conclude that the law collides with other unforeseen happenings to employees which might need time off when they are sick. They have also realized that the law is not in line with working schedule of the firm, in addition the firm has had to increase the financial status of their companies so as to train or recruit the best human resource to deal with issues of FMLA (Bovee, 2001). Paid Sick Leave and its Impact on the Organization Paid sick leave is the compensation to an employee by an organization when they take time off to be with their family when either he or she is sick or one of the family members is sick. Paid sick leave is not passed as a law like the FMLA, it has gained value since consideration by organization because it seen to be related to the economic growth of the country (Earle and Heymann, 2006). In addition, it is also a pillar to the human rights of an employee since the organization values the health of an employee. The paid sick leave has since given the workers who are to take time the courage to go for leave and recuperate and come back to work without the constraints of lack of finance to help the family. Furthermore, it has given the good reputation of the organization which offers this package because their employees will come back to their work place after solving their issues. Impacts on the economy could be due to the health condition of the worker which could contribute to a smaller number of forces working in a firm or sick working force. For example, the workers in the USA had to work when they were sick, which made their health condition and the health of others worse due to a combination of the work force who were sick and the ones who were not sick; this increased the spread of the H1N1 virus among employees. The impact on the economy was that sick workers contributed to low productivity (Watkins, 2011). The impact of using the Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) The law has positive impacts on the organization if employers are informed early. The organization will have time to plan well on how it will do with the small number or without the number of some employees who have taken the FMLA leave. The advance notice has also seen to help the firms know the number of the employees who are to go for FMLA hence will give them time to balance the financial status of the company due to the low productivity they would have to incur when the workers go for leave. The issues of the workers not giving enough information about the conditions would be solved. This is because, an individual who has to apply for FMLA has to present all the information to the firm about the need for FMLA leave, for example, the time of needed and the reason for taking leave, from there the organization will consider the case (Silverman, 2010). The impact of advance Notice of FMLA leave According to Hayes & Ninemeier (2009) the FMLA leave regulations binds the employer to give information to the employees 30 days before leave is granted and the workers are also warranted to give information about the day they would like to go to leave. Despite all this, there are times when there is an emergency, which will give them time off for leave, leaving the company wondering what to do in order to replace the absent worker (Frincke, 2007). Challenges with FMLA-Related Activity From the above analysis, it is clear that an employee taking the FMLA leave will not be paid, this is a challenge to the worker economically because, his or her financial status will be low in comparison to the time when he or she was working in the firm. Conversely the enactment of the law has brought challenges to the firms whose employees have to go to leave, according to Silverman, (2013) the main challenge faced by the organization in knowing the difference between the sick by proving since there is always a little time for organization to switch to get medical records for employee. There is also another challenge whereby the employee takes more time off without considering the time given to him or her by the company. They are other challenges such as the financial status of the company with reference to employees who have gone to leave, the organization will experience changes in production which might cost the company, this has been challenged because it is hard for them to know what might have been the outcome if the some workers were in or not in the firm (Effland, 2009). The organization will also have to treat the employee who has been given leave just like the other employees in the firm by providing all the incentives like the insurance cover, which would be a challenge to the company considering that the worker is on leave and the production of the company is low due to his unavailability (Walsh 2010). Legitimacy of FMLA case There are various conditions which grant the employee the FMLA leave, and which has to be well considered by the organization before giving them leave. The employee will have to be granted the FMLA leave if his or her health condition is not good and if it makes it hard for her to work or perform his duties as required by the company. The firm has to have proof from the doctor showing that he or she should be given time off. The company that has to give medical leave to an employee has to get the medical explanation about the employee from the doctor (Business & Legal Reports, 2009). Some medical conditions do not require one to take the FMLA leave, for example, employees with allergies should not take it as a reason to be granted the FMLA leave. In addition, the employee to be granted the FMLA leave should have the reasonable number of days he or she will be off in case of health condition since the firms also consider the time frame that the employee has to have within the organization. There are other cases which are legal and firms should consider giving the leave to the employees, in the case whereby the employees is in serious health condition and has to go for medical checkup for more than a day or if the employee has to attend hospital regularly due to his or her health condition which requires time to see doctor most of the time as indicated in his medical records (Karsten, 2006). Consequences of the FMLA in the Workplace The medical leave of the employee has been beneficial to both the organization and the employee. The employee has benefited a lot from the law's enactment because he or she will be able to attend to his family, a case which has had a lot of challenges before the passing of the law. Previously, there was the challenge to the families due to the fact that they could not get time off to attend even in the case of the health condition of their family or themselves. This was due to the fear they had that they could lose their jobs which could make it hard to raise their living conditions. The productivity in the workplace has since increased due to address of the challenges like health conditions and the stress which the employee would have incurred if she or he has family issues which have to be resolved. Conversely, the act has been seen to affect the productivity of the company due to the fact that the employees have found way of taking advantage of the leave to take time off using small reasons. This has been a challenge in the working place because the productivity of the company will fall due to the high number of employees taking time off using a small reason, in addition the firms has to recruit the human resource management to address the changes that occur in case the employee is on leave give in Terms of FMLA. References Bovee, S. C 2001, The Family Medical Leave Act: State Sovereignty and the Narrowing of Fourteenth Amendment Protection.” William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law. Vol. 7 (3). Business & Legal Reports 2009, The Leave Maze: Managing FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation Issues. USA: Business & Legal Reports, Inc. Earle, A. & Heymann, J. A 2006, “Comparative Analysis of Paid Leave for the Health Needs of Workers and their Families around the World.” Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, Vol. 8, No. 3, 241-257. Effland, M. S 2009, You and the FMLA: A Concise, Practical Reference Tool for Small Business. USA: Philip A. Ash Frincke, J 2007, FMLA and Its Impact on the Organization. United States of America: Amie Conteh. Hayes, D. K. & Ninemeier, J. D 2009, Human Resources Management in the Hospitality Industry. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Karsten. M. F 2006, Gender, Race and Ethnicity in the Workplace: Legal, Psychological, and Power Issues Affecting Women and Minorities in Business. USA: Praeger Publishers. Silverman, M 2010, “Employment Law the FMLA, Twenty Years Later.” New Jersey Law Journal. Vol. 211, No 16. Walsh, D. J 2010, Employment Law for Human Resource Practice. Canada: Cengage Learning. Watkins, M. P 2011, Evaluating Paid Sick Leave: Social, Economic and Health Implications for Seattle. Seattle Healthy Workforce. Read More