Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

Full title	An Act To grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances.
Acronym	FMLA
Enacted by the	103rd United States Congress
Citations
Public Law	Pub.L. 103-3
Stat.	107 Stat. 6
Codification
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 1 by William D. Ford (D-MI) on January 5, 1993 Committee consideration by: House Education and Labor, House Post Office and Civil Service Passed the House on February 3, 1993 (265–163) Passed the Senate on February 4, 1993 (71–27) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on February 4, 1993 (Via H.Res. 71, 247–152) Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on February 5, 1993
Major amendments
Supreme Court cases
v d e

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. These reasons include personal or family illness, military service, family military leave, pregnancy, adoption, or the foster care placement of a child.^[1] The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.

The bill was a major part of President Bill Clinton's agenda in his first term. President Clinton signed the bill into law on February 5, 1993 (Pub.L. 103-3; 29 U.S.C. sec. 2601; 29 CFR 825) and it took effect on August 5, 1993, six months later.

[edit] Provisions

[edit] Background

The FMLA requires larger employers to provide unpaid leave to certain workers in the United States. The law recognizes the growing needs of balancing family, work, and obligations, and promises numerous protections to workers.

Prior to the passage of the FMLA, the provision of leave for family or medical reasons was left to the discretion of individual employers. Employees making a request for leave could be denied for any reason, and employees could be fired for taking family and medical leave. When workers changed jobs, even within the same company, they could not be sure that their requests for leave would be treated consistently: "[S]ome employers had formal leave policies that were applied uniformly to their workforces while others had informal policies and the granting of leave depended on the particular circumstances."^[2]

In 2007, the Department of Labor estimated that of the 141.7 million workers in the United States, 94.4 million worked at FMLA-covered worksites, and 76.1 million were eligible for FMLA leave. Between 8 percent and 17.1 percent of covered and eligible workers (or between 6.1 million and 13.0 million workers) took FMLA leave in 2005.^[3] The 2008 National Survey of Employers found no statistically significant difference between the proportion of small employers (79%) and large employers (82%) that offer full FMLA coverage.^[4]

[edit] Benefits for Employees Mandated by the Law

To qualify for the FMLA mandate, a worker must be employed by a business with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of his or her worksite, or a public agency, including schools and state, local, and federal employers (the 50-employee threshold does not apply to public agency employees and local educational agencies). He or she must also have worked for that employer for at least 12 months (not necessarily consecutive) and 1,250 hours within the last 12 months.

The FMLA mandates unpaid, job-protected leave for up to 12 weeks a year:

• to care for a new child, whether for the birth of a son or daughter, or for the adoption or placement of a child in foster care;
• to care for a seriously ill family member (spouse, son, daughter, or parent);
• to recover from a worker’s own serious illness;
• to care for an injured service member in the family; or
• to address qualifying exigencies arising out of a family member’s deployment.

The FMLA further requires employers to provide for eligible workers:

• The same group health insurance benefits, including employer contributions to premiums, that would exist if the employee were not on leave.
• Restoration to the same position upon return to work. If the same position is unavailable, the employer must provide the worker with a position that is substantially equal in pay, benefits, and responsibility.
• Protection of employee benefits while on leave. An employee is entitled to reinstatement of all benefits to which the employee was entitled before going on leave.
• Protection of the employee to not have their rights under the Act interfered with or denied by an employer.
• Protection of the employee from retaliation by an employer for exercising rights under the Act.

[edit] Non-eligible workers and types of leave

The federal FMLA does not apply to:

• workers in businesses with fewer than 50 employees (this threshold does not apply to public agency employers and local educational agencies);
• part-time workers who have worked fewer than 1,250 hours within the 12 months preceding the leave and a paid vacation;
• workers who need time off to care for seriously ill elderly relatives (other than parents) or pets;
• workers who need time off to recover from short-term or common illness like a cold, or to care for a family member with a short-term illness; and
• workers who need time off for routine medical care, such as check-ups.