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See also: Parental leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (Pub.L. 103-3, enacted February 5, 1993) is a United States labor law allowing an employee to take unpaid leave due to a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his job or to care for a sick family member or to care for a new son or daughter (including by birth, adoption or foster care). The bill was among the first signed into law by President Bill Clinton in his first term, fulfilling a campaign promise.

Provisions

The law recognizes the growing needs of balancing family, work, and obligations and promises numerous protections to workers. Some of these protections include:

Up to twelve (12) work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for various reasons such as
- Caring for the birth of a son or daughter or the adoption or placement into foster care of a child
- Caring for a child, spouse or parent with a serious health condition
- For one's own serious health condition
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.

Generally, the Act ensures that all workers are able to take extended leaves of absence from work to handle their own or an immediate family member's serious health condition without fear of being terminated from their jobs by their employers or being forced into a lower job upon their return.

The leave guaranteed by the act is unpaid, and is available to those working for employers with 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius. In addition, an employee must have worked for the company at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months.

The act also applies to all U.S. government employees and state employees. In 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, upheld FMLA coverage for state employees in Nevada Department of Human Resources v. Hibbs. The state of Nevada had unsuccessfully challenged the provisions under the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The U.S. Code cite is 29 U.S.C. sec. 2601.

History

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Controversy

Certain critics^[who?] of the act have suggested that, by mandating various forms of leave that are used more often by female than male employees, the Act, like the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, makes women more expensive to employ than men. They argue that, in response, employers will engage in subtle discrimination against women in the hiring process, discrimination which is much less obvious to detect than pregnancy discrimination against the already hired. Supporters counter that the act, in contrast to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, is aimed at both women and men, and is part of an overall strategy to encourage both men and women to take family-related leave in equal proportions.