Family Medical Leave Act - A Brief History

It was in the early 1990's that the U.S. Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed into law, the Federal Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). The administration of the "Act" falls to the Dept. of Labor, and specifically to the Wage & Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL). To get to the point of passage, there had to be a collaboration and recognition of interests involving both Labor and Business. While it is acknowledged that the protections greatly benefit, and were prompted by, the needs of the Labor Community, the Act (FMLA) is not 'perfect' and has been clarified over the years via DOL FMLA "Opinion Letters"...similar to our Collective Bargaining Agreement "side letters". Sometimes to find answers to the many questions that arise over the administration of FMLA, one must not only read the language of the Act, but also research the intent of the DOL and Congress in constructing the Act, as well as the (more than 100) Opinion Letters written on various FMLA issues from 1993 to the present.

The most significant change to the Family Medical Leave Act occurred in December 2009 when Congress passed, and President Obama signed into law, the 'Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act' which granted FMLA rights to many thousands more flight crewmembers than had been covered during the previous 16 years! While Flight Attendants had been included under the original language of the Act, due to our 'outside the norm' means of calculating compensation (based on flight time hours rather than hours 'on the job'), it had always been argued by Airline Managements that only our FTM could be used to determine an individual Flight Attendant's eligibility for family leave.

It was not until a lawsuit was brought forward by a Delta Flight Attendant against Delta Airlines (Rich v. Delta Airlines) in 1996 that prompted the Dept. of Labor to review how flight crewmembers eligibility should include Duty Time Hours rather than Flight Time Hours to calculate eligibility. From that time, airlines were 'supposed' to calculate our duty time (time 'on the job') for FMLA eligibility...and when done correctly, this did allow many more Flight Attendants to be covered by FMLA protections.

But the battle continued to allow even more Flight Attendants coverage under the Act. Congressional House Representative, Tim Bishop (D-NY), Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) worked extensively with AFA-CWA to craft the language of the legislation as it moved through the process on Capitol Hill. Ultimately the bill became law due to the tremendous support and effort shown by the thousands upon thousands of flight crewmembers and their families who called, emailed, and contacted their elected Congressional Representatives urging support for the bill. The Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act of 2009 finally fully recognizes the peculiarities of our work schedules, reserve limitations, and variable work hours and has adjusted the Family Medical Leave Act to acknowledge a more equitable eligibility benchmark which allows greater access to the legal protections afforded under the Act.