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RUNNING HEAD: Persuasive Paper Part 1: A Problem Exists 8

FMLA – Is it Fair for Everyone?

Christina Mangos

Dr. Laura Howard

ENG 215 – Research & Writing

February 5, 2017

Every day, we as individuals have the right to freedom. We have the right to make a change in the world. Our rights as individuals when it comes to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are on that need re-vamping. Every day someone needs to utilize the protection that the FMLA covers, but yet there are a lot of people who do not feel that the qualifications are unfair or that it does not cover enough for employees. Why should we as employees have to choose whether to resign from our position or even pray we still have one upon return if one does not fall under this protection act. Should we as American citizens really have to meet certain requirements to be able to tend to ourselves or our family members in a serious situation or even after giving birth to a child? The Family Medical Leave Act should protect us based on our entire work history alone, not based on how long with have been with one certain employer.

The Family Medical Leave Act has been in place since 1993. This act was set in place to give eligible employees up to twelve weeks of job protect leave. But, the kicker is it is unpaid and you can only use it once a year. “FMLA applies to all public agencies, including state, local and federal employers, local education agencies (schools), and private-sector employers who employed 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including joint employers and successors of covered employers” (SHRM). In theory, this is a great act for us to have in the retrospect of job security. But the actual foundation and requirements to be covered under this seem rather fickle. For instance, you must be at your place of employment for twelve months or worked over 1200 hours over the course of twelve months.

The Department of Labor states that the FMLA is there for employee’s who are unable to work for an allotted amount of time in the cases of “the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth; to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition; a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job” (dol.gov). Now that we know some of the incidents that are covered under the FMLA, another important fact is that there are three different types of leave available. Those include: “(1) continuous FMLA leave, (2) intermittent FMLA leave and (3) reduced schedule FMLA leave” (Shahrooz). Regardless, of what is covered or who is covered, the FMLA is important to many people for reasons they may not be able to control.

The FMLA does change from time to time, but not for all the reasons we hope. But to include more groups of people. For a while, there was a lot of controversy on whether or not certain couples should fall under this act. The LGBT community being one of them. In 2010 the act changed to include LGBT community as far as becoming parents. “On June 22, 2010, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued an interpretation clarifying that the FMLA’s definition of “son or daughter” is broad enough to include LGBT parents who have no biological or legal relationship to the children they are raising” (A Better Bal.). It added again in 2014 for this same group involving their spouse. But is that enough?

In March of 2015 there was finally a final ruling regarding FMLA and the LGBT community. “The Final Rule amends the regulatory definition of spouse under the FMLA so that eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages will be able to take FMLA leave to care for their spouse or family member, regardless of where they live” (dol.gov). This is a huge leap for our government. For the longest time, these couples were not seen as equal. Not only could they not get married, but they could not utilize the Family Medical Leave Act because they were not seen as equal to a male-female couple.

Should employees really have to choose between their families or their job? Around 40% of working Americans are going to face this question because they do not meet the qualifications that are required. Pregnant woman for instance, are faced with having to go back to work six weeks after giving birth for the sheer fact that they were eligible for Disability and would receive payment for those weeks. Having to choose to go back to work or continue your leave under FMLA has a lot of potential risks, including major hardship for the family with the loss of income. “With so many gaps and such confusion, the main debate over work and family has moved away from the FMLA and back to the original aim of those who pushed for the law: paid family leave” (Ludden).

The goal is to protect workers and their families who need to take a certain amount of leave from their workplace temporarily but, the law is hardly without problems. But then again, we as working people who pay taxes have to think: “The FMLA is a one-size-fits all law, and simply can’t and won’t ever be able to cover all workers. Consider the self-employed shop owner, the freelance journalist, or the stay-at-home mom who works part time at her child’s school – should taxpayers be required to provide them with designated leave?” (Schaeffer). Either way, it we are eventually granted the paid leave, that does not mean that the work at the company is going to be put on hold. All it will do for us is give an employee with a serious circumstance be allowed the time they need as well as receive compensation for it. Even if it is only a certain percentage of the normal pay, something to these families is better than nothing.

There are many reasons as we see why the FMLA is perfect the way it is. Some statistics of how the FMLA has protected employees would be, “Nearly half of all leave events lasted 10 days or less and only around 60% of U.S. workers are eligible for the law’s protections. About 56% of employees who took FMLA qualifying leave were women” (Hoch). But, there are also several reasons we can think of off the top of our heads as to how it can approve.

Not matter how we look at it, there are people that are currently included like “workers recovering from bypass surgeries or breast cancer. Each time someone takes leave under the FMLA, they know that their health insurance will continue and their job will be there when they return” (Bond, Dodd). After going through procedures like that, knowing that sure, we have a job to go back to, BUT what am I going to do to recover all the lost wages? Shouldn’t the FLMA be based on a person’s commitment to their employer, rather than their employment status? If changes are not made, more and more Americans are going to find themselves not meeting the necessary qualifications. So, the question that still remains is, should Congress do more, cover more for the American people? Should they base this act on employment history, instead of current place of employment?

References

A Better Balance. (2016, November 29). The Family Medical Leave Act. Retrieved from: http://www.abetterbalance.org/resources/the-family-and-medical-leave-act/

Bond,K. Dodd, C. (2013, February 06). Family Medical Leave Act still working. Retrieved from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/02/06/family-and-medical-leave-act-fmla/1891575/

Hoch, Maureen. (2013, February 08). 20 Years After FMLA, What’s Changed and What Hasn’t. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2013/02/20-years-after-fmla-whats-chan

Ludden, Jennifer. (2013, February 05). FMLA Not Really Working for Many Employees. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/05/171078451/fmla-not-really-working-for-many-employees

Schaeffer, Sabrina. (2013, February 20). On Its 20th Anniversary, The Unsung Problems Within The Family And Medical Leave Act. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sabrinaschaeffer/2013/02/20/on-its-20th-anniversay-the-unsung-problems-within-the-family-and-medical-leave-act/#24652ea873e4

Shahrooz-Scampato, F. (2013, May 15). Family Medical Leave Act - What You Should Know. The Alternative Press. Retrieved from: http://thealternativepress.com/articles/family-medical-leave-act-what-you-should-know

Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2013, July 12). Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993. Retrieved from: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/familyandmedicalleaveactof1993.aspx

U.S Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act. Retrieved from: https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

U.S Department of Labor. Final Rule to Revise the Definition of “Spouse” Under the FMLA. Retrieved from: https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/spouse/