, Research Paper
Thymine he Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act was established in 1993. The act is designed to supply up to twelve hebdomads a twelvemonth of unpaid leave for employees other than cardinal employees for certain grounds, such as a serious medical status experienced by the employee or a household member and the birth or acceptance of a kid. I believe that spread outing the Family and Medical Leave Act is non merely unneeded, but it could ache our economic system.
When the act was implemented in 1993, many houses had to set their policies. Most of these accommodations were due to pregnancy and paternity leave. Statisticss show that in 1996 that 78 % of adult females and 54 % of work forces used their available full 12 hebdomads of leave under the act. ( Waldofogel, 1999 ) That is a big per centum of the work force that was out for up to twelve hebdomads. Harmonizing to statistics many houses allow up to six months for pregnancy or paternity leave, although non common, this could do a serious job. ( Hoyle, 1995 ) If the federal authorities were to widen their compulsory coverage where will it stop, 10 month, one twelvemonth and before long we will wholly be on leave. The 12 hebdomads of leave established by the authorities is a sensible clip period and if houses want to widen their policies to profit their employees they are allowed to make so. By maintaining the act at a set 12 hebdomads the employer has an chance to hold some ordinance on how long the employee may lose work after that clip frame.
The act should stay unpaid to assist promote workers to return to work. By doing the 12 hebdomads a paid clip period could do several jobs. This would let an employee to acquire paid for three months of no productiveness. That can do a considerable sum of loss for a company. Take an employee for case that is conveying place about $ 1000 per hebdomad. This employee would be the company $ 12,000, presuming they stayed gone the allowable 12 hebdomads. So now you have an employee who hasn? T worked in three months that made $ 12,000 for making nil. To most houses that is non a disused sum of money. This one individual will now hold affected production and operating expense. Using the statistics from above we can see that if 78 % of adult females and 54 % of work forces are taking their 12 hebdomads of leave and acquiring paid for it, there will be a considerable sum of money lost by companies. This will non merely affect employers, but consumers every bit good. If companies are blasting out money to use
EEs who are non even working, so they will hold Ts make up for it someplace and that is where the consumer comes in. Monetary values will travel up and we will be forced to pay a higher monetary value because all these people are acquiring paid to non work.
Another country of concern would be the extention of the lineations for leave. There have been many instances where an employee has tried to take advantage of the allowable leave clip. For illustration. In Bond V Abbott Laboratories, an employee requested FMLA leave for everyday tooth extraction. The tribunal rejected the employee? s claim, because there was no grounds that the employee would be incapacitated. ( Platell,1999 ) The extention of the act in the this country should non be a sensible issue. The tribunals have determined that there are a wide figure of nutriments that fall under the class of serious wellness conditions. If the authorities continues to let workers take FMLA go forth for any unequal grounds no 1 will be working. The authorities should lodge with the commissariats that they were foremost concerned with sing serious unwellness.
In another such instance a company gave their employee 13 hebdomads of paid leave. She argues that she was non notified that this was her FMLA leave. After the 13 hebdomads of leave she was asked to return to work, but she thought that she had an extra 12 hebdomads of unpaid FMLA leave. The Department of Labor provinces, ? The statue was intended to supply 12 hebdomads of FMLA leave, with the employer holding the right to replace accrued paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave. ( Zachery,1999 ) This is another illustration of employees seeking to take advantage of the FMLA leave. ? It? s merely traveling to ache our economic system when the authorities continues to let minor unwellness take the topographic point of serious conditions under FMLA? , says Keri Unowsky, a author for Employee Relations Journal. ( Unowsky,1998 )
Our concern economic system today is turning at an dismaying rate. Laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act can be good, but merely when they are non taken out of context. The 12 hebdomads of unpaid clip off sums to a significant period. The employers have the right to pay these employees if demand be, but the authorities should non coerce them to be paid. By maintaining the lineations for FMLA leave within a rigorous guideline the jurisprudence will non be taken advantage of every bit much. As a state we have the duty to protect our citizens, but by spread outing the Family and Medical Leave Act I believe we would be making an unfairness to us all.
