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Fmla - What You Need to Know

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THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Family and Medical Leave Act – What You Need To Know

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) became public law on February 5, 1993. Its purpose is to grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances that will allow the employee to balance the demands of their job with the needs of their families. Some examples of eligible leave are: for the birth or adoption of a child, to care for an (eligible) family member that has a serious health condition or because the employee themselves have a serious health condition and is unable to work for an extended period of time. Further, the FMLA was enacted in order to minimize employment discrimination based on gender by allowing leave for eligible medical reasons, as well as for family reasons, for both men and women. (DOL.gov, n.d) While the FMLA has been a law for over 20 years, there are still many facets to it that continue to confuse both employers and employees. For employers it important to know what the leave is for, is it for them or a family member, if for a family member is it an eligible family member, how long the employee needs to be off and are they eligible for leave in the first place. Denying leave for any reason can be a possible FMLA pitfall that could result in a lawsuit so employers must treat lightly. Employee concerns are somewhat similar – am I eligible, can I take leave to care for (family relationship), how much leave can I take, do I have to take it all at once, and most importantly, will I lose my job if I take leave? To further complicate the situation, many times employees use, or rather abuse, the FMLA just to get off work without having a real medical or family issue. Unfortunately this happens quite often and many times employers are defenseless against it. All the employee

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