STEP FORWARD - Shriver Center

By Michaella Furman, Special Projects Coordinator, Women’s Law and Policy Project

In today’s economy, people are increasingly wary about job protection and retention. Unemployment is on the rise and at nearly a three-year high. Last month was the third consecutive month that U.S. employers slashed jobs. With a net loss of 80,000 jobs in March, this has been the longest period of decline since 2003. Working families need additional protection to ensure that they keep their jobs and be financially stable when they have a medical emergency or family situation that warrants leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

The FMLA functions as a safety net for workers who need to take time off work for the birth or adoption of a child, or for their own serious health condition or that of a qualifying family member. Since its enactment in 1993, the FMLA has allowed 100 million workers to take unpaid leave without risking the loss of their jobs. However, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed amendments to the FMLA regulations, many of them puncturing this safety net by simultaneously increasing the requirements for workers seeking to take leave under the FMLA and easing requirements for employers.

Instead of providing necessary job protections, the proposed amendments would add requirements that would hinder workers in need of leave by giving employers wider latitude to deny such leave requests. For example, under current regulations an employee must give at least 30 days’ notice if the need for leave is foreseeable; alternatively, if 30 days is not possible, notice must be given as soon as practicable. Under the proposed amendments, in cases where 30 days’ notice is not practicable, an employer is allowed to request that employees explain why they cannot give 30 days’ notice. However, what happens to an employee if the employer does not find the explanation truthful or sufficient is unclear. As a result, the proposed amendments allow employers to delay or deny FMLA leave according to their perception of the validity of the timing of the notice rather than of the reason that their employees need or request leave. This and other proposed amendments play “gotcha” with workers’ lives and job security.

The Shriver Center submitted comments to the Department of Labor opposing many of the proposed amendments to the FMLA. The National Partnership for Women and Families, a leader in the fight for the original FMLA legislation, also submitted comments to the Labor Department.

If the proposed amendments become final, they will greatly weaken the FMLA’s vital safety net, having a harmful effect on working Americans. Instead of undermining workers’ rights under the FMLA, the Labor Department should strengthen these rights by making FMLA leave accessible to all workers, not just those who work for large employers, and by providing paid leave so that more low-income workers can afford to take the leave they need.

For more information, contact Michaella Furman at 312.263.3830 ext. 243.

Tags: Welfare and Work Supports

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Welfare and Work Supports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.