After soliciting 15,000 comments about the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Labor Department will issue a report today concluding that the public likes the law, but corporate America has big problems with it.þþThe 14-year-old law gave employees at workplaces with 50 or more workers the right to take up to 12 unpaid weeks a year to cope with their own serious health condition or to care for a newborn, a newly adopted child or a seriously ill spouse, parent or child. þþIf they had any criticism, many workers said, it was that the law does not allow for longer leaves and that it does not provide paid leave, the way many European countries do.þþOne parent wrote: “My daughter was mauled by a dog. I had to take two months of leave. Had F.M.L.A. not been in place, I would have lost my job for sure.” þþMany businesses complained that the Labor Department’s definition of a serious health condition enabling workers to take leave was unclear and too generous. Many companies also said their operations were hurt when workers with chronic conditions, like asthma or migraine headaches, took frequent leaves. þþThe department solicited comments last December.þþVictoria A. Lipnic, the assistant labor secretary for employment standards, said the department had no intention of proposing any new leave regulations “imminently.” þþ“There was a general overall finding that this law works pretty well and is serving a lot of people that it was meant to serve,” Ms. Lipnic said. þþThe report estimated that 6 million to 13 million workers took leaves in 2005 under the act. The report noted that just over half of the nation’s 146 million workers were eligible for leave. Many are ineligible because they work part-time or work at businesses with fewer than 50 employees. þþMs. Lipnic said if there was any surprise, it was the extent to which businesses complained about employees who took frequent leaves. þþ“We heard a lot of complaints from industry sectors like transit and public safety about the problems that these unscheduled, intermittent leaves created,” she said. þþThe report said, “This is the most serious area of friction between employers and employees seeking to use F.M.L.A. leave.” þþJason Straczewski, director of employment and labor policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, said workers who took intermittent leaves for chronic conditions created problems at many factories, especially where skilled employees worked in small teams. þþMr. Straczewski said the government should issue new regulations to help those with legitimate chronic conditions take leaves and to make it harder for those who are exploiting the system. He also called for regulations that would give companies more medical information on employees seeking leave so they could do more to ensure that ill employees used their leaves to get better. þþSome labor unions and women’s groups protested when the government began soliciting comments. þþDeven McGraw, chief operating officer for the National Partnership for Women and Families said, “We raised concerns when the whole process began that all this is laying the foundation for regulatory or statutory changes that will make it harder for people who need to take leaves to be able to take care of themselves or members of their family.” þþIn their comments, many workers and family groups said the law would be more useful if it also covered caring for siblings and grandparents. þþ
Source: NY Times
