What does Family and Medical Leave cover?
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) aims to afford protection and security to employees. The goal of the act is to provide financial security, allowing individuals to attend to family and personal medical needs. FMLA allows employees to earn pay while away from employment in order to do the following:
- Take care of a serious health condition (includes pregnancy)
- Take care of a family member with a serious health condition
- Take care of a newborn, newly-adopted, or newly-placed child
What’s the issue?
Despite the reality that at some point, approximately all individuals will need to take time away from employment in order to address a personal or family illness, or to care for a newly introduced child, only about 14% of employees in the United States are able to take paid family leave through their employer, while less than 40% are able to take paid personal medical leave.
Why is this problematic?
Compared to nearly every other developed nation, the United States is one of the few countries that does not guarantee family and medical paid leave. This is problematic for a number of reasons. For one, incidences of family and personal illness are unpredictable and to a certain extent inevitable. Without the guaranteed protection of paid family and medical leave, families and individuals may be forced to make logical financial decisions, rather than emotionally and morally motivated decisions in fear of losing pay and potentially even employment. Considering current findings that support the benefits of guaranteed paid medical and family leave it begs the question why hasn’t the United States adopted this policy?
Why should I support paid family and medical leave?
Although several argue that the burden falls too heavy on businesses and should be left in the hands of each state, research has shown the positive effects of guaranteeing paid leave. For example, providing employees with paid leave has been shown to improve overall financial stability and public health, which overall benefits the employer just as much as the employee. Supporting the family and medical leave would promote not only reducing employee turnover and increasing employee loyalty, but also improving family bonding and creating a more equalitarian workplace environment. In the few states that have that supported guaranteed paid family leave, there has been indications of positive outcomes. For example, in California, where medical leave is guaranteed, employees in low-wage, high-turnover jobs have shown to be more likely to return to employment after taking guaranteed paid leave.
Overall, our nation’s current policy is falling short to the needs of working families. Policy is failing individuals and families by not guaranteeing paid family and medical leave and will continue to serve as an inadequate policy unless change is enforced.
What can you do to make a change?
There are several innovative proposals created in order to make family and medical leave available to all working families, which need support. The following proposals include:
- The Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act
- Paid Leave Fact Sheets
- State Paid Leave Laws
- Paid Family Leave/Paid Family and Medical Leave Research
- Other Federal Paid Leave Legislation
Use your voice to make a change! Become informed on current work and family policy and innovative proposals around you. Then take action by telling congress to support paid leave by clicking here. Spread the word by becoming social and starting conversations addressing your views. Speak up!