The Family Medical and Leave Act
When President Clinton signed the Family Medical & Leave Act in 1993, he created a brand new avenue for American workers to manage their work-life balance. Thus far, the act has helped thousands of families focus on spending time with their kids during the times in life when parents are needed most. New mothers now have the security of knowing that when they take a maternity leave, there will be a job waiting for them if they decide to return. The other major advantage is that it has allowed families with troubled children to play a more influential part in helping their children turn themselves around.
Ever since the act took effect, numerous studies have taken place about its effectiveness. Employees and employers have also challenged it. State and local governments have taken the act and expanded upon it, making it ever more useful. This paper will examine some of these stories and discuss the possible ramifications of these events.
The Level of Benefit:
A study in March of this year, conducted by Children Defense Fund of Minnesota, showed that only 4% of Minnesota employers offer paid leave for new parents. The federal law requires twelve weeks of unpaid leave at companies with fifty or more employees. The Minnesota law required only six weeks of unpaid leave at companies with twenty or more employees.
The Children’s Defense Fund is proposing a voluntary program that would use state tax money to cover up to 1/3 of the salary of any parent on leave if the employer covers at least another third. If this legislation passes, it could make it much more realistic for parents to take the entire time allotted to them off.
President Clinton said in February 2000 that he would like to expan...
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...es and unintentionally signals vulnerability.” (Heim, Pat) Not only is smiling too much a problem for women, but head nodding can be too. “When women listen during a conversation, they tend to nod unconsciously as if to say, ‘I heard you.’ The gesture doesn’t necessarily mean they agree. Men, on the other hand, nod assent.” (Heim, Pat) Most people never think twice about their body language. They do whatever comes natural to them. Sometimes though this can get you into serious trouble. It’s important to keep these few issues in mind while talking to people.
These are two key areas that women can unwittingly send a mixed signal or even worse send the wrong signal. Keeping these few differences in mind will enable better communication in the workplace and out of it.
Bibliography:
Hardball for Women, by Pat Heim Ph. D. 1993 by the Penguin Group
A woman may use “listener noises” such as “Uh huh” to let you know that she is listening. Men tend to prefer to sit quietly and focus on what is being said. Men tend to interpret the woman’s conversation noises as interruptions and may become annoyed, according to Deborah Tannen. Deborah Tannen also states that most women often prefer talking while sitting or standing in a group of people where everyone is face-to-face. Most men prefer talking shoulder-to-shoulder. A woman might use gestures, facial expressions, and incline her head and shrug her shoulders during the conversation. A man usually prefers a relaxed pose; they prefer to keep the body language and facial expressions more contained. These are the reasons why miscommunication can occur between men and women. Here is an example by Deborah Tannen: A college student was frustrated because whenever she told her boyfriend she wanted to talk he would lie down on the floor, close his eyes and put his arm over his face. To her, this not-so-subtle sign meant he wasn't listening. But he insisted he was listening, even harder than he would if he was looking directly at her. Lying down simply kept him from looking around the room so he could concentrate (Tannen,1990). Now, in order to solve these types of miscommunications, we need to learn to understand each other and our
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and job protection for childbirth, adoption or foster care; to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; or for an employee’s own serious illness (Cañas & Sondak, 2011). It also requires that their group health benefits remain intact during the unpaid leave of absence. The employee must have worked for the employer for at least a year and must have earned 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12 months ((Cañas & Sondak, 2011, pg. 70).
During the 1992 presidential campaign, Governor Bill Clinton promoted implementing an act that would grant families a temporary medical leave under certain circumstances. He pushed for a change in the labor law that would protect workers that were caring for their families. Once elected in office, he made the Family Medical Leave Act a top legislative priority. The 103rd U.S. Congress enacted the FMLA bill. Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on February 5th, 1993 and it took effect six months later on August 5th, 1993 (Advantages). The Family and Medical Leave Act is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor.
In response to the increasing need for employees to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act. Without a policy like FMLA in place, many employees often would have had to choose between “the job they need and the family they love” (Hayes). The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is the first national law created to help Americans balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of the family. It successfully helps bridge the gap between family and work and secures the right for both men and women to get unpaid leave and assistance when dealing with family related circumstances.
... ensure all eligible employees are covered under the Family Medical Leave Act and their unalienable rights are not violated. The Act ensures that an employee will not be unduly terminated due to a medical condition of their own or close family and their job will be secure for the term of leave. The long wait for the Family Medical Leave Act has not been a waste. Since the Act's inception, millions of people have benefited from the twelve weeks approved by the Government. The number of employers and employees the Family Medical Leave Act affected went above and beyond the projected numbers, thus showing the increasing need for protection due to a "serious health condition" of an employee or employee's family. The numbers are projected to only increase in the next five years because of the number of workers that will need to take leave under the Act at some time.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993 and allows employees to take unpaid leave for up to 12 workweeks in any 12 month period because of any of the following reasons: the birth or adoption of a child, for the care of a family member with a serious health condition, or because the employee’s own serious health conditions makes the employee unable to perform the functions of her or her job. This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to both the employer and the employee concerning this act. The current use of FMLA and management concerns over the FMLA will also be discussed.
The Family and Medical Act (FMLA) of 1993 was America’s initial plan of “enabling workers to balance . . . work and family” (Cohen 213). Yet, many workers across the nation are unable to attain these benefits simply because their leave is unpaid (Cohen 214). Since the passage of the act, very little progress has been made in the fight for paid parental leave, causing the United States to be developmentally behind the rest of the world (Talbot). The United States’ family leave policy is severely inadequate and outdated. In order for the nation to progress politically and socially, reforming the present legislation into a model of paid parental leave can lead the United States in the right direction of growth. The current policy for parental
Overall the Family and Medical Leave Act has raised many issues on whether leave should be encourage and/or paid for by the employers. As of today, no haven policy has been enacted to tackle the challenges surrounding this issue, but positive steps have been taken and one day there will be no question that hard working employees will get the rights they
The United States is one of three industrialized countries that do not have policies put in place that mandate companies to provide paid parental leave. In 1993, U.S President, Bill Clinton, enacted the family and medical leave act (FMLA) which allows for employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to twelve weeks for medical reasons if their employer has more than fifty employees employed at the company. Later on in January of 2015, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that entitles federal employees for up to six weeks of paid sick days to take care of a newborn child or an adopted child. Currently there are only three states in the United States with paid parental leave policies which are California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. As of right now, only those employers who
Starting and expanding families is challenging for most working people in America. Job uncertainty, financial insecurity and catering to the needs of a newborn are just a few of many challenges American families face when taking a leave of absence from work after the birth of a child. Every company should have a family policy that gives its employees the option to take paid leave if a family emergency occurs—most importantly the arrival of a newborn. Paid family leave will give working parents in America the chance to adjust to the lifestyle changes associated with having a newborn, without putting the stability of their home at risk. Pregnancies will be less stressful for mothers and fathers; businesses will increase production and the economy
Our nation has a lot of problems that we need to get lined out to become better as a whole, paid family leave being one of them. Some people will say that paid family leave is bad for business, but recent studies of the three states that are currently offering paid leave,” California, New Jersey and Rhode Island -- New York's plan goes into effect in 2018 -- found that a majority of companies experienced positive or neutral effects on productivity.” While it may not be entirely positive, it’s not negative which is a step in the right direction. Other say that it would be hard to keep women in the workforce, therefore, messing up gender equality, but Schulte says that “there's this sweet spot that most studies will show it's between nine months to a year where nine months is where it's positive and up to a year. Anything longer than a year tends to be kind of a detrimental effect to women's wages, women's return to work and their career prospects.” It’s not an easy process but it’s necessary for our future as a prospering
The Family and Medical Aid Act (FLMA), of 1993, provides for 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for certain specified events (8). Whilst one could refer to this as maternity or paternity leave if taken because of a pregnancy, this would not be strictly true. Where maternity and paternity leave are offered around the world, they are separate from any other leave due to medical or family reasons. The leave in the U.S. provided through the FLMA is also, as mentioned, unpaid. This creates a number of issues for the expectant family as, regardless of their job being safe for the time taken off, without the income it may be harder to look after the new born child as a couple of unpaid parents, than one parent not taking leave, or neither taking leave and relying on relatives to care for the child as much as possible.
Further evidence of communicative differences exist between men and women in various other social settings as well. Consider, for example, those individuals employed in customer service-related Jobs. While in JC Penny, I noticed that female customer service representatives were more apt to offer immediate friendly assistance than the male reps. Men are not as cocky nor as confident in this sort of situation; their eyes tend to dart around the area of the store while the eyes of a women remain focused upon the eyes of the customer. The men seem to communicate with a lot less smiles. Apparently they have to get past a certain “ice-breaking'; point before they will feel comfortable with a genuine look of happiness.
Bringing a new baby into the world is one life changing experience. The lives of both the mother and the father are changed tremendously as they begin to learn to raise a child by trial and error. Maternity leave for mothers of newborns is never disagreeable; when it comes to paternity leave, however, it becomes one of the most controversial topics of the workforce. Reasons for maternity leaves and paternity leaves are both justifiable. Men should have the opportunity to take paternity leave from their jobs so that they can be a helping hand to the mother, have a chance to bond with their newborn child, and help bridge the gap in gender equality in the workplace without the stigma and criticism. After the birth of the child, women can become emotionally and physically fatigued, so men take an important role as care giver and supporter, especially in the first few weeks. If a father has an opportunity to stay home for the first couple of weeks, to care for both the mother and his new child, it will make a big impact for the family.
Throughout a person’s life, there will come a period of time, when an employee will need to take a leave of absence. The Family and Medical Leave Act has helped many people balance their daily living situations with their work life. Many years ago people were unable to keep a career due to everyday life changes. It has taken a very long time to put this Act into place but it has help our countries people in so many ways. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a law providing help for hard working Americans to retain their careers throughout their challenging journey.