What Is FMLA? Looking at America’s Family and Medical Leave Act


Right now the fight for paid leave continues. Earlier this year President Joe Biden pushed for the passing of a national paid leave program. At a White House event marking the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Biden said, “Ninety-four percent of our lowest-wage workers, mostly women and workers of color, have no paid family leave at all…. I remain committed to changing that…by passing a national program of paid leave.”

Learn more about FMLA, eligibility requirements, and how you can access the program, below.

What is the Family and Medical Leave Act? 

The Family and Medical Leave Act was one of the first bills passed by President Bill Clinton after he took office in February 1993. FMLA guarantees eligible workers job protection for up to 12 weeks when they need to take care of a newborn, an adopted child, or a severely sick elderly family member. However, it is unpaid. FMLA recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and to mark it President Joe Biden, Clinton, and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted an event at the White House, where all three called for the passing of the country’s first national paid leave policy.

Who is eligible for FMLA?

To be eligible, you must work for a “covered employer.” A covered employer is a public agency (state, local, and federal), a public education agency like a school, or a private sector business that employs 50 or more workers for 20 or more workweeks in the current or previous calendar year. Public agencies and schools are covered no matter how many people are employed. 

If you work for a covered private sector business, you are counted as eligible for FMLA leave if you work for your covered employer in the United States or any territory of the United States; if your name appears on payroll records (even if the work you do might be voluntary and unpaid); if you are employed by a foreign firm that is operating in the US; if you are a full-time, temporary, seasonal, or part-time employee.

You won’t be eligible for FMLA leave if you have been laid off, if you are an unpaid volunteer who does not appear on the payroll, or if you work for a US company in an office based outside the US or its territories.

How is FMLA calculated?

In addition to the employer qualifications, eligible employees must have worked 1,250 hours during the 12-month period before the start of their leave. They must also work in a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within a 75-miles radius. 

Who pays for FMLA?

No one, because it’s unpaid. 

Why is FMLA unpaid?

The 12 weeks’ leave that FMLA provides is unpaid because the goal when it was introduced was to protect employment for those who may need to take time off to care for a loved one, not provide financial security. FMLA was always intended as a first step toward a proper paid leave policy, but it’s been impossible to unite Republicans and Democrats, or even all Democrat lawmakers, to pass a national paid leave policy. And while FMLA was considered groundbreaking at the time it was introduced in 1993, in the three decades since, unpaid family and medical leave is considered wildly out of step with most other countries.



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