Family Medical Leave Act

Family Medical Leave Act

As an employer you want to hire and maintain a professional and knowledgeable work staff. In order to do this, the job needs to offer qualifying individuals with incentives. These incentives not only include competitive salaries but flattering benefits as well. People hear of the usual sick days offered or the week or two weeks of vacation time yet many are unfamiliar with the benefits that fall under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA requires an employer to be covered under the act and that an employee be eligible for such benefits prior to receiving the benefits.

President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act into law on February 5, 1993. Bennett-Alexander and Hartman (2007) state that the act applies to employers who employ 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. You have a job with a company that employees more than 50 people from the surrounding area but how do you know if you are eligible for benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act?

Eligible employees are those who must 1) work for an employer that is covered by FMLA regulations; 2) been employed with this employer for a minimum total of 12 months; 3) within the 12 months of employment, worked a minimum of 1,250 hours; 4) work within the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States in which their employer employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles (DOL, 1995).

Often after couples marry, they consider the possibilities of having children. What if one or both of the spouses has a job that is necessary to provide for the members of this family; what will happen to their position at their place of employment if they decide to have a baby? With the population continuously increasing, the need for family benefits