Family Medical Leave Act and the Economy - Case Study Example

Sonnie Meirhaeghe ENG-122 Sondra Doolin Introduction Paragraph October 29, 2008 FMLA and the Economy The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was introduced in 1993 by the Clinton administration. It has a provision that grants employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12 month period with a specified guarantee that your job would be secured and can still have it upon returning from leave once granted that leave in the first place. FMLA off time can only be applied for in circumstances that are very critical and sensitive such as birth and caring for a newborn, adoption, caring for a sick family member or if the employee has bad health conditions that are often life threatening in particular. FMLA could be a very important provision to have at work places in that it aims to promote positive welfare among employees but at the same time, its effects can be damaging on the economy and the performance of organizations hence some changes are being considered. However, the main question is; “Are these changes to the FMLA of any benefit or could even damage the economy further?” Before attempting to look at the effects, it is imperative to fully understand what FMLA is and the conditions required for one to be eligible to apply for this extra ordinary privilege as a point of departure. It must always be borne in mind that not all employees are eligible to take advantage of FMLA. One major condition that is mostly considered is that one must work for his or her employer for at least 12 months and in that 12 months he should have worked for at least 1 250 hours. The employee must be working in an organization with at least 50 or more employees within approximately 75 miles radius, in order to be considered for the benefit of FMLA. It should also be noted that FMLA can not be taken together with maternity leave since it is already included in the employer’s maternity leave. It may only be taken for “serious health conditions” as outlined by LawGuru Knowledge Base [online 2008]. Employees are not entitled to be paid for the time they are off on FMLA. The employer is not allowed to terminate an employee’s contract while away on FMLA. Upon return of the employee, the same position must be available or in if that position is no longer available, the employer must provide an alternative position which is equivalent to the previous one with similar comparable benefits. The Family Medical Leave Act creates an advantage for employees in that nowadays both parents go to work and the FMLA allows them to be home with their family when it really counts especially in situations that are life threatening. Because of the guidelines of FMLA, people can take it intermittently allowing them to work on less than a full time basis but still earn an income. The employee is also allowed to keep their benefits while away on FMLA, although they must pay for them. An article, written by Michael A. Schwarz in USA Today (online), talks about the advantages of one woman who used the Family Medical Leave Act to be with her daughter while she was in the hospital and throughout her treatment. Her daughter was 18 years old but had been born with cancer. Patti Phillips, the mother, was able to be by her daughter, Stephanie Phillips, bedside when she died. Patti said, “You want to be there with your child, especially when it is terminal and you do not need to worry about your job.” She also concurred that the law would give you peace of mind. (FMLA Hot Debate, USA Today) Statistics posted by USA Today give a very clear understanding on the effects of FMLA at the work place and on the economy as a whole. They state that 72% of workers that took advantage of FMLA were paid for their entire leave and 22% were paid partially for their leave. While considering the proposed changes to FMLA listed below, it is important to consider the statistics that were done in 2000 regarding the difficulties of getting time off. Sixty Five percent of people interviewed say that it was very easy to get paid time off. Initially, a person who goes on leave using FMLA is not entitled to get payment. However, an analysis of the above mentioned statistics point to the effect that workers are abusing this privilege fully knowing that it has loopholes in the payment system therefore, tend to take advantage of this. This has negative effects to the economy as a whole in that the organizations would need to pay people who would not be entitled to get that money in the first place according to the provisions of the act. Other effects on the economy would be noted if it involves skilled personnel who would be holding key posts that determine the overall performance of the whole organization. It would mean reduced activity or nothing at all which would negatively impact on the economy especially companies in the manufacturing sector. As far as the work is concerned, FMLA would be detrimental to some sectors of different organizations especially in the legal field for instance. Those positions are not easy to fill and it is often hard to implement in house training on a short notice. However, in an assembly line it would be easy to hire someone on a temporary basis from agencies to fill the position for 12 weeks. Above all, I believe that the Family Medical Leave Act is necessary, but not always easy to implement as it has got some negative impacts on the economy as a whole. As Michael Schwarz also explains in his article of USA Today, “the current law is too vague and vulnerable to employee abuse.” U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resource Management also back that statement. Therefore, the purpose of these proposed changes will be to make it harder to abuse FMLA. The proposals have caused an outcry in various sectors as there are fears that it would cause undesirable impacts on the fabric of the family especially in time of need such as illness as stated in this article, “National Partnership for Women and Families, fear those changes will cause hard-won family leave protections to be lost” (FMLA Hot Debate, USA Today). Debate is still going on with regards to the changes proposed to be effected to the FMLA. It is still not clear what changes would be proposed but some of the possible alterations would involve a redefinition of what constitute serious illness as there has been tendency by some employees to take advantage of the Act then go on to get leave days even though in circumstances of such illnesses that look minor such as broken toes or mere colds. This way, it would greatly help the employers to determine the authenticity of all given cases that would fall under the recognizable category of FMLA. One of the proposed changes pertains to the section of serious illness. As has been the tradition, people with a broken toe would also use FMLA to get time off but the proposed changes state that FMLA would only cover illnesses serious enough to require 10 or more days off. The law also currently allows employees to take time off intermittently, which can be a “Nightmare for an employer to keep track of records” (FMLA Hot Debate, USA Today). Not only can it be a nightmare, but it will allow employee’s with attendance or tardiness problems to claim they had migraine. Changes to that section of the law would require something like four hours off as a minimum period. The way the act is written can hurt profits. “Complying with the FMLA cost employers $21 billion in 2004, according to an analysis by the Employment Policy Foundation” (Hot Debate, USA Today). This emanates from the assertion that some of the employees would still get their payment even though they would have taken the advantage of the FMLA. A closer analysis of this assertion also points to the effect that some costs are caused by the production lost in the occasion of many employees getting the advantage of FMLA which may be a bit difficult to get replacements quickly to fill the positions that would be left vacant. Such a scenario can negatively affect productivity. The Human Resources often find themselves confronted with a situation where there would be a conflict of interests with regards to the FMLA. According to an article entitled, ‘Noble headache: The Family and the Medical Leave Act achieves a high purpose-- at a price,’ posits that although FMLA is a noble and laudable Act, HR professionals admit that in minority of cases, FMLA gives them some headache. It is stated that, “The most severe pain stems from the intertwining issues of unscheduled, intermittent leave and medical certification, provision that some employers say they are being abused by the employees.” It can be noted that when it works, the employees would all appreciate it. In an interview with Karen Phelps, she says she likes it because it worked for her family, but makes it hard at work to be easily considered and granted the leave. One daunting task for the Human Resources Professionals is the occasion where the same problem keeps recurring to one person. For instance in a case of Doris Gillespie, a food service worker with Milwaukee Public Schools, she said the FMLA did exactly what it is supposed to do. She says, “My daughter was 43 and a mother of four when she passed. She went to store and never came back, she had an aneurysm.” Likewise, she took a month off to deal with the grief, settle her daughter’s affairs and take care of the grandchildren. However, her brother also died within the same given period. Then, the question is that: Is this person still eligible to get another extra month to finish of her business and grief? These are some of the challenges that may face the HR professionals. In another interview with Victoria Fishwick, she stated that she wished that the Act should have been in place a long time ago when she had a complicated pregnancy. She said, “I wished that this particular act should have been passed when I had my second son Colton. I had a terrible pregnancy and was living in Phoenix at the time. It was very hard to take any time off from work. I was struggling to cop with my complications and take care of a newly born baby that was very sick. My husband was also unable to take any time off from his work to help me.” Her hard experience bears testimony that this act is very important especially to employees as it would give them the chance to try to get to terms with their hardships. From the above argument it can be noted that the FMLA has several advantages that can benefit the employees if put to use in an honest manner. In most cases, emergencies are not planned and no one has the ability to predict their occurrence. It is against this background that the FMLA provides a very important provision that can be used to cushion the employees in case of crises such as deaths as well as serious illnesses. It would give them ample time to try to cope with their difficult situations while off duty. The other benefit is that their jobs would be secured even if they go on leave. However, FMLA can have its own hardships especially on the economy. It can be noted that in some cases the employees may have a tendency of abusing this noble facility that may result in unprecedented cases of absenteeism from work over minor issues which may not be classified in the category of serious illnesses. This would negatively impact on production as there would be limited number of labour force required for any given organization to operate at full capacity. If production is affected, it would result in reduction of profitability which would give a negative growth especially in the economy. Losses can also be recorded when employees on FMLA leave still get their payment regardless of the fact that they would not be entitled to get payment. This would add to the losses incurred by the company in that it would pay unproductive people who may be pursuing their own private businesses while taking advantage of the FMLA. Over and above it can be noted that FMLA is an Act which provides for employees to take certain days off in the event that they are in dire situations that would require them to be off duty and this would not be counted as leave since they would not be entitled to get any payment during the period they would be off. This provision has so many benefits to the employees if honestly utilized. However, if there is a tendency to abuse this provision, the organizations would end up incurring losses as production would be negatively affected while at the same time some employees may still get their payment even if they would not be entitled to get them by virtue of being on leave. It can be concluded that the FMLA has several advantages if fully utilized in an open and honest manner without the tendency of abusing it on behalf of the employees. Annotated Bibliography 1. Michelle D. Bernard, October 6, 2008. Family Unfriendly Family and Medical Leave. Independent Women’s Forum. Retrieved on October 26, 2008, from www.iwf.org/news. This article discusses the Family Medical Leave Act and the pro’s that it offers. On the counter part it offers the con’s of government-mandated family and medical leave. 2. Stephanie Armour. Family, Medical Leave Act at Center of Hot Debate. USA Today. Retrieved on October 26, 2008, from www.usatoday.com/money/economy. 3. This article argues that the FMLA dated in 1993 is to vague, but is concerned about the proposed changes to the act. It also offers a graph to show the effects on workers as it relates to the time they took off and the money they received. 4. Frequently Asked Questions. LawGuru Knowledge Base. Retrieved on October 26, 2008, from www.lawguru.com. LegalGuru is powered by actual attorney’s answering questions for people. There are answers to frequently asked questions such what is the Family Medical Leave Act, who is covered, how it relates to pregnancy leave, and what employees are entitled. 5. Gary Vikesland, MA LP CEAP. The Family and Medical Leave Act. Balancing Work and Family. Retrieved on October 26, 2008, from www.employer-employee.com/fmla.html. This site also breaks down the FMLA as to the benefits of the employee and the employer. It goes even more specific to discuss who and “eligible” employee is. This discusses what can happen if both spouses work for the same employer. It also states that the employer is allowed to periodically ask the employee for a status update as to the leave, or that once the leave is requested it maybe 30 days before they are allowed to start taking it. 5. Family and Medical Leave. Leave Benefits. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved on October 26, 2008, from, www.dol.gov. This site discusses specific qualifications for the FMLA and description of what the FMLA is. It also offers an overview for The Family and Medical Leave Act that was amended On January 28, 2008. The amendment for the FMLA applies to and adds a “member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves” to the act. Read More