Equal Employment Opportunity Laws and the Family and Medical Leave Act

Family Medical Leave Act was enacted in 1993 with the main aim of providing certain rights and responsibilities to employees. This legislation provides some entitlements to employees such as the basic leave entitlement and military family leave entitlements. Notably, the act also includes other provisions like the benefits and protections during the leave, eligibility requirements, description of serious health condition, use of leave, substitution of paid leave for unpaid leave. Furthermore, the legislation also states employee responsibilities, employer responsibilities, unlawful acts by employers, and enforcement of FMLA.

Under the Family Medical Leave Act, covered employers are required to offer up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave to eligible employees for several reasons. These reasons include incapacity because of pregnancy, care for the worker's spouse or family member with serious health condition, care for employee's child after birth, and for a serious health condition that makes it difficult for the employee to carry out his specific duties ("Employee Rights and Responsibilities," 2009).

During the Family Medical Leave Act, the employer is required to maintain the worker's health coverage under any health plan on the similar to the way he/she will do if the employee continued to work. After returning from this leave, many workers must be reinstated to their initial or equivalent positions with the same employment terms, pay, and benefits. Moreover, the use of FMLA leave cannot contribute to the loss of any employment benefit that accumulated before the commencement of the employee's leave. The Act protects both employees and employers in relation to a serious health condition since employees are required to provide adequate information to the employer to determine eligibility for FMLA protection. In contrast, covered employers must notify employees requesting leave about eligibility under FMLA.

Privacy and Technology:

The modern working environment is increasingly characterized by the use of the Internet because of the various benefits associated with technology. However, employees not only use the Internet to achieve work-related purposes but they also use the Internet of non-work related issues. Actually, based on the findings of a survey, the average worker spends between one and two hours every day using the Internet for non-work related purposes or for personal reasons ("How do Employers Monitor Internet Usage," n.d.). This use ranges from gambling and pornographic websites to instant messaging co-workers and friends. In contrast other individuals have reported using the Internet at work for other innocent, non-work related reasons such banking and shopping.

This trend contributed to the question on whether the employer should know the contents of an employee's communications and the websites visited by the employee while at work. The concern has led to the emergence of debates and arguments regarding employer surveillance, especially with regards to the ethics of such practice. The main reason for this question is the fact that employers are usually disappointed when the employees waste the organization's time and money to do non-work related tasks on the Internet. On the contrary, employees argue that the temptation to surf the Internet for non-work related reasons is too great to resist.