Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 - Case Study Example

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

Labor relations comprise a very significant aspect in any economy. Labor is perhaps the most important factor of production and governments worldwide have enacted laws to manage the demand and supply of this critical resource. In the United States, the government has- over the years- enacted legislations governing different components of labor, most of them in a bid to ensure that there is equity and fairness in the treatment afforded to workers. Healthcare sector marks perhaps one of the most regulated industries in the United States. Aside from rules governing matters of practice and dealing with patients, organizations in the sector have to contend with labor laws. This paper delves into the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, its provisions, as well as its impact in the United States. The analysis starts by exploring the act from a general and wide perspective before narrowing down to healthcare.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993: An Introduction

On 5th February 1993, the then US President Bill Clinton assented to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) following its passage in the Congress. The new law that took effect on 5th August of the same year required employers to grant their employees unpaid leave if they experienced some events that had something to do with family or medical emergencies. The Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor is the body tasked with the administration of the FMLA, a landmark piece of legislation that became a critical part of President Clinton’s first term in office. The objective of the Act is to put a balance between the often competing demands of the workplace and the family .

The most sweeping change imposed by the passage of the FMLA was the provision that employees could take up to twelve weeks of uncompensated leave to attend to family or medical-related emergencies during a 12- month period. Section 102 (a), paragraph 1 of the Act lists several reasons under which the employers should grant their employees leave under its premises . The first involves a person temporarily leaving work to care for their newborn child. The act goes on and also makes a provision for one to take a break from work if they have had a child placed with them for adoption or foster care. The third provision for leave under the FMLA is if an employee has a sick relative who could be their spouse, child or parent. Also, the person could take a break from work if they fall ill such that they are not able to discharge their role as required.

In making the allowances for employees take leave, the FMLA also introduced eligibility criteria to determine who qualifies under the act. First, the worker has to work for an employer covered by the particular law. The individual not only needs to work for a covered organization, but they must also have worked there for 12 months. Thirdly, they must have worked for at least 1250 hours over the previous 12 months. Lastly, the workplace needs to be either in the United States, its territory or a possession of the United States .

The basis of calculating the 12-week period within which the act provides cover to employees on leave is 12 months. Although it is unpaid, the employee has a guarantee of job protection upon returning to the workplace. Most states use the calendar year method of considering January to December. However, they make an exception in the case of military caregivers where they measure the 12-month from the first day the individual takes the leave and count forward to the end of the 12 months.

The US Department of Labor introduced amendments effective January 16, 2009, that saw the addition of two new leave provisions. The two are the Military Caregiver Leave and the Qualifying Exigency Leave. Those eligible under this provision can take up to 26 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave to provide care for a service member who suffered serious illness or injury in the line of duty. The introduction of paragraph 3 in Section 102 (a) is responsible for affording employees who have their kin serving in the military the leave . This kind of leave is however only available during a single 12-month period.

The Act goes ahead to define who qualifies as a covered service member. Those included are the existing members of the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves. Others include veterans who are recuperating or undergoing treatment and members on the temporary disability retired list. Further, the member must have been a member of the Armed Forces, National Guard or reserves at any given moment in the five years preceding the treatment. Also, for a single 12-month period; an employee can only take a combined total of 26 weeks. Although the provision for leave for military caregivers is only available once, an employee can take leave under the provisions of paragraph one in any other subsequent 12-month period. Employees claiming this leave must have the illness, or injury of the members certified by either the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare provider, the Department of Defense (DoD) Tricare network authorized private health care provider or a DoD non-Tricare-authorized health provider.

The second new category introduced in 2009 was the exigency leave that also has criteria for qualification. Under this new provision, employees can take up to 12 weeks of FMLA leave as a result of the deployment of a covered member to active duty to support a contingency operation or going to serve abroad. The FMLA lays out circumstances that may warrant an employee to take out a Qualifying Exigency Leave (QEL). One of the premises is when a member gets a short-notice deployment in which they have to take up active duty in seven days or less before deployment . Others include childcare and school activities, counseling, financial and legal appointments, and post-deployment activities such as arrival ceremonies. This particular leave requires a separate certification form. The employee must provide copies of the military member’s orders or other relevant military documentation, facts about the exigency as well as the dates of the member’s active duty and the beginning of the need.

An employee seeking FMLA leave must work in a qualifying organization. Workplaces listed in the act include all public agencies, covering state, local, and federal workers and local schools. For private enterprises, they must employ 50 or more employees in at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding year. Also, they must engage in commerce or any other industry or activity affecting commerce, including joint employers, as well as successors of covered employees.

The FMLA lays out the requirements that the employers must fulfill regarding their employees whenever they go on leave under the provisions of the act. First, the employees must receive the same group health insurance benefits as though they were not on leave. That includes the employer’s contributions to premiums. Upon returning to work, an employee should go back to the same position that they occupied before going on leave. Therefore, if the post is unavailable, the employer must find another one that is substantially equal to pay, benefits, and responsibility. The FMLA also guarantees employees protection from possible retaliation by the employer for exercising rights under the Act .

History of the FMLA

The passage of the FMLA in 1993 came after years of trying and failed attempts that included rejection at the Presidential assent stage. In each of the years between 1984 and 1993, Congress debated the bill, but it was not until 1993 that it finally passed. Before 1991, the bill had never made it past Congress with partisan politics scuttling it. In 1991 and 1992, Congress passed it, but President George H.W Bush refused to sign it into law on both occasions. In 1993 however, the Congress passed the bill in a bipartisan manner and President Clinton signed what was then the first landmark act of his administration. It won him plaudits for assenting to a fundamental piece of legislation that would herald a new era for workers as they sought to balance the demands of work and other family affairs.

Passage of the FMLA marked a significant milestone, especially for women. It made the American workplace more family-friendly and fair. One of the leading bodies advocating for its passage was the National Partnership for Women and Families, an organization that fights for better treatment of women. Going by the name Women’s Legal Defense Fund then, the body wrote the first draft of the legislation that would become the FMLA in 1984. As such, the day that President Clinton signed the FMLA into law marked one of the proudest moments for the organization . The fact that one can now go on leave and has the assurance of job protection makes it easy for them and also implies that they do not have to worry about the possibility of losing their job or face any form of discrimination for exercising their rights per the Act.

The Impact of FMLA on Healthcare

Since inception, FMLA has had profound implications for both employees and their employers. For employers, they have to live with the fact that their employees can be absent from work for a prolonged period in the event of a family or medical emergency. An employer could lose an employee for up to 12 consecutive weeks or, in the worst-case scenario, for 26 weeks. As such, it is critical that they remain ready to deal with any absences and to ensure that there is minimal disruption of the daily workflow.

Healthcare organization fall in the bracket of institutions with FMLA coverage meaning their employees can apply to take leave as provided for by the Act. They perhaps take much more of a hit as compared to other sectors for several reasons. This sector usually has the much-specialized personnel and losing one for a prolonged period could prove very chaotic. The ease of substitutability is extremely low in the field so missing one or several people may not be as easy for the organization. The nature of healthcare is such that circumstances could arise in which a hospital, for example, may need to call on all its medical staff in case of an emergency. Being deprived of people as a result of them being on FMLA leave could thus hamper the effectiveness of the response. Healthcare institutions may thus bear the brunt of FMLA absences at the workplace more than entities operating in other trades or fields.

The enactment of FMLA represented a positive step in the journey towards ensuring work-life balance. It has, however, occasioned multiple problems in its implementation for both employers and employees. One of the issues that employers often raise is tracking of the time that a worker has taken a leave of absence as per FMLA provisions, particularly when they do so intermittently. It is most challenging when someone’s absence is unanticipated because then the employer finds themselves caught off guard. Another common problem for employers has to do with the ascertainment of the costs associated with FMLA leave such as the cost of benefits for the absent worker and the incremental amounts they have to pay other workers to cover for their colleagues on leave. The most significant problem regarding employees is the lack of adequate information about FMLA and its provisions. Some therefore fail to exercise their rights as provided for in the act even when they experience emergencies.