What Is the Family and Maternity Leave Act? All You Need to Know

The Family and Maternity Leave Act is covered by the United States laws and is designed for employees who work at a company with more than 50 employees who have worked there for more than 20 weeks in the current or preceding year. This act provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave to the eligible employee, which can be used as per the company regulations and the flexibility the employee needs.

The FMLA is designed for cases where employees have serious health conditions, their parents are faced with medical issues, or the spouse and child face the critical health issue. It is also provided to help parents bond with a newly born or placed child, or for them to attend to the needs of a military-serving family member or their relatives. The duration of FMLA can be extended to 26 weeks in certain cases where a military service member needs care.

Understanding FMLA Eligibility Requirements

FMLA ensures very specific obligations toward the employees covered under the act. Employees and employers must be aware of all the rights and nuances that come under it. The employee has to have worked at the organization for at least 12 months, and have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer before they apply for the leave.

Another major requirement of the FMLA is that the worksite must have more than 50 employees working for 20 or more workweeks in either the current calendar year or the previous calendar year.

Remote workers generally work from their homes, so to meet the criteria of the act, their “worksite” will be the place they report to. For instance, if a person works from their home and reports to a manager who works at the main office, the manager’s worksite will be counted as the remote worker’s worksite too.

Employers or employees can never waive the designated unpaid leave of 12 weeks. Even if the employer provides additional paid leaves, the FMLA can’t be delayed or avoided. The act only accounts for concerns over then parents, spouses, and children of an employee. Other relatives aren’t included in the family members.

Many employees also have questions regarding what happens when long weekends or holiday weeks fall during their FMLA leave. Will the holidays be included in the FMLA? The answer is no, it doesn’t count against the employee’s FMLA time unless they have worked on the holiday. Also, if the company shuts down for a week or two, it will not be counted in the employee’s FMLA leave.

Intermittent or Reduced-Schedule FMLA Leave

Intermittent and reduced-schedule leaves are both possible under the FMLA. Under the intermittent leave policy, employees can take non-continuous leaves for a few hours a week, some days of the month, or in any other non-continuous pattern. On the other hand, reduced-schedule allows employees to be work at a more limited capacity for a period. 

In both cases, employers can have employees temporarily transferred to another job position preferable as per their needs and the convenience of the organization. Once the duration of the reduced-schedule FMLA leave is over, the employee can return to their permanent position.

Challenges of Maternity Leave in the U.S.

Working women face several challenges, including discrimination, when it comes to their right to maternity leave. One of the major issues with maternity leave under FMLA is the clause of unpaid leave. The act only guarantees the 12-week leave but there is no provision for employees to get paid during that period. 

Some companies have a policy to provide paid maternal leave, but this only benefits 40% of working women. Women have also claimed that they face discrimination when they rejoin the office but there is no proper structure available for them to report it. 

Overall, the advantage of the the Family and Maternity Leave Act is that it provides job security during trying times for employees who require a long break to attend to personal matters. There can be a lot of improvements made to the act, like switching it to a policy that provides paid leaves, but this will take a long time.

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