Events/Actions

FMLA covers employers with job-protected leave and it is like they never took leave.

• The Family and Medical Leave Act benefited workers because if something medical came up and they needed time off they could get it, but they would still be paid, or at least they would be guaranteed to keep their job. This is helpful because if someone is out of work for a while they don’t have to worry about not getting money because technically they could still be getting paid. In order to become eligible for FMLA you must be a loyal employee and work for the same employer for at least a year.

• “The FMLA provides eligible employees of covered employers with job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons and requires continuation of their group health benefits under the same conditions as if they had not taken leave”…“Employees are eligible if they work for a covered employer for at least 12 months, have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the 12 months before their FMLA leave starts, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles” (Department of Labor).

People formed organizations that advocated for FMLA.

• One of the main organizations that advocated for the FMLA was the National Partnership for Women and Families. They wrote and brought forth the rough draft of the FMLA and kept pursuing the passing of it even when it took them 9 years.

• “The FMLA was introduced in Congress every year from 1984 to 1993 and was blocked repeatedly by entrenched, well-funded opponents. For years we built and nurtured a strong, broad-based coalition and led fierce and tireless advocacy” (“History of the FMLA”).