Family Medical Leave Act

Family Medical Leave Act

Introduction.

Family Medical Leave Act, which is also abbreviated as (FMLA), is a labor law that requires the larger employers to offer to their employees a leave where they are not paid during the leave. Such leave is mainly for serious family health issues, which can affect the employees in their work environment, and therefore, there is a need to ensure that they go and attend to the problems in their families. Some of the qualified family issues which can lead to the employee being given the Family Medical Leave include the following; pregnancy, adoption, foster care placement, military leave, and family of personal illness, among others. Family Medical Leave provides for a continuation of the health insurance and well as enhancing job protection for the employee who has been giving the medical family leave (Hayes, & Berlan, 2016).

The primary aim of the implementation of the Family Medical Leave Act is that it was meant to provide families with adequate and ample time as well as resources for them to deal with cases of emergency, which may occur from time to time. There are some incidences where an employee may have pressing family problems, as stated above, and he or she may not get the opportunity to attend the family problems due to job demands. As a result, some of the reactions are attached to such a situation, such as even death or even family breakup, which can negatively affect the life of the employee. Also, there are other effects on the organization, for example, reduced productivity of the employee in the workplace. Therefore, there is a great need for Family Medical Leave to help solve such problems, which a diverse to both the family, the workplace, the employee him or herself, and also the entire society (Gottenborg, & Sheridan, 2019).

on breaking down the Family Medical Leave Act, the act is an acknowledgment by the federal government the some of the incidences of changes in families, the organizations or the place of work, the entire employees and the whole labor force, as well as the expectations of the employees and the employers.

A good example is a situation where a family is a single-parent household. The other critical incidence, in this case, is that of a family where both parents are working. In such a case, the parent may have a divided focus of responsibility, that is, taking care of the children and the elderly in the family and taking care of the job. It remains to be a tough task to choose between the two as the situation is the one which provides for the financial needs of the family and on the other side, the children and elders need close attention from the same people at work in the instances of illness or other critical cases (Hayes, & Berlan, 2016).

To remove such options to choose either work or take care of the children and the elderly, then the Family Medical Leave Act was introduced by the government to give the employees that opportunity of attending the family health issues when they arise. The act grants them the chance to stop the job first and visit the family health issues, and during that time, they are attending the family issues. Their jobs are secured, and they cannot lose their job. The formulators of the Act had put into consideration that mothers take essential care of the children in their early life and which impacts much the lives of those children. Considering the importance of the incorporation of the Act, the act was signed to become law in august 5^th 1993 by the president of the United States of America by that time, who was known as Bill Clinton (Lumpkin et al. 2019).

Family Medical Leave Act guarantees.

Any person who decides to take the unpaid leave that is in the category of Family Medical Leave Act gets assured that his or her job is protected, and no one can take it when he is on such a leave. That means that the employee has the right to go back to the position where he was operating before he requested for a vacation and be successfully absorbed in the area and continue with the operations like before. In the incident where the job previously held is unavailable, the employer must ensure that he finds another position which is equal to the previous task. The area should be similar in the sense of the payment, benefits, and also the responsibilities attached to the new location (Gottenborg, & Sheridan, 2019).

For an employee to be eligible to apply for Family Medical Leave, there must be fifty workers in the organization or more, as it is the requiring for one to qualify for such a position. The employees mentioned above should be the within75-mile radius of his or her worksite. The other qualification is that the employee must have worked in the organization for at least 12 months and also 1250 hours within the last twelve months. As per the regulations of the Family Medical Leave Act, mandates the leave, which is unpaid and which takes to a maximum of twelve weeks in a year. Any other time beyond the twelve months is not allowed by the Act, which is three months in a year. Those are some of the significant guarantees which are in touch with the Family Medical Leave Act guarantees to both the employers and the employees (Hayes, & Berlan, 2016).

Family Medical Leave Act purpose.

For any act to be in action, there has to be some purpose in which they are supposed to serve in society. For the FMLA, there are some purposes which it serves mainly to the employees and the employers. Some of the significant goals of the Family Medical Leave Act are as follows;

First, FMLA helps to balance the job demands and family needs. Also, it is the work of the act to ensure that the employees are not affected by the decision in whether to focus on family or the job by allowing them to pause one and focus on the other and then resume it later and more so on the side of the situation.  In addition to that, the FMLA also serves to ensure that there are stability and economic security for the families. Job security ensures that the family is stable in that the job provides finances to cater to basic needs such as clothing and food, among others. Also, FMLA serves to promote national interests in preserving family integrity, which is an important aspect (Englander et al. 2017).

Family Medical Leave Act also serves a very crucial purpose in entitling the workers to take reasonable leaves which are allowed under it. The act acts as a kind of restriction on the type of leaves that the workers are allowed to take in the course of their work. Employees at times may take leaves for reasons which are not reasonable and acknowledgeable at all, mainly by their employers. Therefore, the Family Medical Leave act plays a significant role in controlling the leaves taken by the employees in case of any need in that they are allowed to take the leaves only in case of the stated situations or happening that are indicated in this act. The workers are also trained somehow to be faithful in case of any leave they take in that they have to inform their employers on the key reason behind the take of the leaves at a particular time (Lumpkin et al. 2019).

Some of the employees at particular times have cheated on their employees on the reasons behind them taking leave outs for unreasonable purposes. The employees end up wasting their time in areas that are not productive at all other than investing their time in more productive and building sectors. The regulations in the Family Medical Leave Act, therefore, have had a significant and more recognized impact on the allowed leave outs to the employees hence enhancing the productivity of the areas of work that the workers are involved in. Also, the regulations have helped in reducing the causes of absenteeism at the workplace reported to the management of the related organizations. The above factor has had a decisive role in ensuring that the workers are at most of their time at work, therefore, reducing the number of lost opportunities by the organization (Williamson, 2016).

The Family Medical Leave Act is said to only allow leave outs to the employees in case of medical reasons such as birth or adoption of a child. Also, in case the employee is required to care for a child, spouse, or parent involved with a severe health condition. Employees are, therefore, at most times present at workplaces to accomplish the organization’s objectives and, at the same time to earning his living. The employees end up having a positive attitude towards work at the expense of nonproductive other expenditures. With this act, therefore, the employees learn to submit to their employers and mainly to allocate most of their time to their work while pursuing their personal goals. The individual purposes by the employees include meeting their needs as expected since they differ from one person to another based on one’s personality and also the level of dependence on him by other beneficiaries. Also, the employees can meet the need for self-actualization on committing most of his time at work. They, therefore, get time for training hence attaining his possible potential of development. On self-actualization, the benefits of the work done, for example, the wages may be increased in most cases. Therefore, the employees end up earning more from their jobs (Hayes & Berlan, 2016).

The Family Medical Leave Act also has played a vital role in ensuring that the way of working by the employees accommodate the interests of the employers. The employees are restricted in their course of work to particular interests determined by their employers, and therefore, this act ensures that the benefits of the employers are protected. The law also provides that there is no discrimination in the place of work imposed by employers to their employees. The employers, in most cases, may discriminate against the workers in that they may not give those leaves even for medical reasons. The act, therefore, ensures that the workers are given a chance to take care of their families and enhance the sentimental value in a family. The Family Medical Leave Act is also very critical in ensuring that there is equity in the allocation of jobs. In this case, the job opportunities are accessible to both genders without gender discrimination in the place of work. This act, therefore, is a crucial document in ensuring that the workers are equal even in case of gender differences hence enhancing the position of women at the workplace (Williamson, 2016).

Conclusion.

In conclusion, a Family Medical Leave Act is a crucial act in the area of determining when workers should be given leave outs. It has reduced the significant differences between the workers and their employers by harmonizing in between their different interests. It is also used in reducing discrimination in terms of gender in the workplace and also maintaining the equity required between the workers of a particular organization. This act has also played a key role in ensuring that the interests of the employers are attained as expected of the workers hence the pursuit of their objectives. It also maintains a good relationship between workers and their employers. The act should be consulted and applied to all workers when giving them leave (Cree-Green et al., 2020).

References.

Hayes, J., & Berlan, M. (2016). Costs and Benefits of Family and Medical Leave for New Hampshire Workers. IWPR, Washington, DC.

Williamson, K. (2016). Evaluating the Standards of Family Medical Leave Act Claims.

Lumpkin, S. T., Klein, M. K., Battarbee, A. N., Strassle, P. D., Scarlet, S., & Duke, M. C. (2019). Fellowship or family? A comparison of residency leave policies with the family and medical leave act. Journal of Surgical Research, 241, 302-307.

Gottenborg, E., Rock, L., & Sheridan, A. (2019). Parental Leave for Residents at Programs Affiliated With the Top 50 Medical Schools. Journal of graduate medical education, 11(4), 472-474.

Englander, M. J., Ghatan, C. E., Hamilton, B. N., Josephs, S. C., Nelson, K. J., & Traube, L. E. (2017). Society of Interventional Radiology Position Statement on Parental Leave. Journal of vascular and interventional radiology: JVIR, 28(7), 993-994.

Cree-Green, M., Cree, J., Urban, K., Bunik, M., Sass, A. E., & Rosenberg, A. (2020). A Structured Neonatal Parenting Elective: An Approach for Parenting Leave During Residency. Academic Pediatrics.