Family Medical Leave Act

FMLA Summary

The author of this report has been asked to do a summary and review of what has come to be known as FMLA, which is short for the Family Medical Leave Act. Within this report there will be a review and summary of the relevant employment law. There will then be a construction of an overview of the law that includes a rationale for said law, who is affected by the law and other relevant or related information. Third, there will be the proposal of a method, process, system or tool so as to ensure compliance with the selected employment law. Fourth, there will be an explaining of the benchmarking and best practices procedures that could and should be used for the law. Finally, there will be a listing of recommended strategies for healthcare leaders so that organizational compliance with the law can be monitored. While people taking FMLA can be disruptive for a business, allowing people to handle important life situations and events in this manner is the right thing to do for the employee and for society.

Questions Answered

Relevant Employment Law

The real and major piece of the law that could and should be consulted for this section is the law itself. Indeed, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed as a freestanding and self-sufficient law in 1993. However, the original law actively excluded people that were not legally married under the laws of the states of the Union. This meant that gay couples were excluded even though they were legally married in their state of residence. Beyond that, the law is basically intact from its original manifestation in 1993. The law allows for a person to take up to twelve workweeks of unpaid leave over a twelve-month period for the following reasons:

Birth of a child and this can be done within a year of the child's birth

A child has been placed for adoption with the person taking the leave. As with a biological child's birth, this leave can be taken within one year of the child's birth.

To care for a spouse, child or parent that has a serious health condition

The employee himself/herself has a serious medical condition that needs to be attended to Any qualifying exigency for the employee that involves a family member being on active military duty (DOL, 2016).

It should be noted that not all employees/employer are subject to the FMLA. It only applies to employers who have fifty or more employees in a seventy-five-mile radius. If either of those conditions is not met, the employer does not have to extend the leave. They can do so if they wish but they would need to do so equally and evenly for all like situations just like if they were subject to the law. When an employee returns from FMLA, they must be given their prior position back or one that is equivalent in nature in terms of pay and responsibility (DOL, 2016).

Overview of the Law

The rationale for the law is that people will have situations and life events that preclude them from being able to balance both the event in question and their job at the same time. In other cases, it could just be that the person wants the luxury of being able to take some time off. This would be very common with a new child, adopted or biological. The employee is affected by the law because he/she is allowed to time off, albeit unpaid. The employer is affected in that they will have to cover the temporary loss of the employee and they will have to offer the person their same job (or one that is similar) back to them when they return (Meyer, 2016).

Compliance Assurance

Compliance with this law is not all that complex and really only comes down to two things. The first is whether the employer is subject to the law. So long as there are fifty people in a seventy-five mile radius, the law would apply. When someone applies for FMLA, all that really has to be figured out is whether there is a valid reason for the leave as defined by the law and whether the person is eligible to take time at the particular time they wish to take leave. If all necessary conditions are met, the employee has to be allowed to take the leave and the relevant substantiation and document should be put in order. When the employee returns, they must be restored to their prior position or one that is equivalent in nature. Each step of the process should be watched over and verified (SHRM, 2012).

Benchmarking & Best Practices

The benchmarking and best practices for this situation are not all that difficult but it is important that they be followed. All paperwork and details of the leave including start date, stop date, reason for the leave and so forth must be in place. There should be absolutely no retaliation or ill events levied towards the person as this could and should be viewed as retaliation for taking leave that is mandated by law. When the employee comes back, they should be given their prior position if at all possible but an equivalent one will do if business necessity required that the employee's position not be left open (DOL, 2016).

Executive Summary