The Fight to Save Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)If your parent, spouse or child gets sick, you should be able to take care of them. Makes sense, right? That's why Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993. The federal law allows employees to balance their work and family lives by taking up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to care for themselves or their loved ones in the times they need help most. The Bush administration's Department of Labor asked for public comments about FMLA regulations. Worker advocates believe this could be the first step toward revising the rules in a way that will hurt workers--by making it harder to take FMLA leave. When Working America got out the word that FMLA is under review, we received thousands of stories about the importance of balancing work and family life. FMLA allows employees to balance their work and family life by taking up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year to care for themselves or their loved ones in the times they need help most. If you want to add your own thoughts on why FMLA is important to you, there's still time. Click here to tell your story. While Bush tries to toy with FMLA, Harvard-McGill University released a new study that concludes the United States lags far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding. The study says: "workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea."
Back in this country, Working America members are writing to tell us why even our nation's unpaid FMLA is critical them and their families. Georgiann in Pennsylvania writes: I did not have to use it yet, but I am part of the "sandwich generation" with a small child at home and an elderly mother-in-law living with us. It's almost inevitable that somewhere down the road I will need it and I hope it will still be there. This is crucial for working families to have this benefit |
Donna Jean in Alabama says: My mother is 76 years old and in declining health. I will need time off to care for her in the upcoming years. I'm 55 years old and I can't afford to lose my job. |
From Missouri, Helena says: Thank God for FMLA. Because of it, I was able to stay home with my baby during those first crucial weeks of her life. |
Working America also conducted a short survey among our members to learn more about what makes FMLA work best for working families. Some of the surprising results: - Nearly half of respondents (41 percent) say they have requested FMLA leave in the past.
- Almost half of respondents (46 percent) had never been informed of their FMLA rights by their employer.
- Over one quarter (27 percent) say their employer forced them to use paid accrued vacation or sick leave in lieu of unpaid FMLA leave.
- Almost half of respondents (39 percent) say they are between the ages of 50 and 64.
- Almost two-thirds of respondents (65 percent) say they are female.
We also asked Working America members whether they agree or disagree with the following statement: "Employers should be required to give full-time workers at least 7 days of paid sick leave annually." A whopping 97 percent of respondents said that they agree with this statement. Here at Working America, we're keeping a close eye on this situation. We'll keep you posted on the fight to save FMLA--and the fight to make it better. | 
