Show Your Support for Family & Medical Leave Act

If you’ve ever needed to take time off from work to have a baby or care for a family member, you’re probably familiar with the Family & Medical Leave Act. It’s the federal law (passed in 1993) that grants eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for birth, adoption, or serious health conditions (your own or a family member’s).

Apparently, the U.S. Labor Department is currently seeking public comment about the law. (Thanks to MomsRising for bringing this to my attention!)

Why does the government want the public’s 2 cents on the FMLA? “We’ve realized we need some fresh information and fresh thinking on the issues that have developed over nearly a dozen years since the regulations were implemented,” according to the department’s Nov. 30 news release.

It sounds a little odd … possibly fishy. Is the Bush adminstration looking to weaken this important law to help big business? What are they up to? In any case, working moms should speak up. Let’s use this as an opportunity to strengthen the FMLA. Tell the Labor Department how this law has helped you–and better yet, how it could be improved.

Email your comments to Richard M. Brennan, Senior Regulatory Officer, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.

Or snail-mail him at:
Room S-3502
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210

Deadline for comments is 5 p.m., February 2, 2007.

2 thoughts on “Show Your Support for Family & Medical Leave Act

  1. Anonymous says:

    I would would like to see a modified version for companies with less than 50 employees. Maybe they do not get 12 weeks leave but perhaps 6 weeks, something…. I worked for a small company during both of my pregancies and feel fortunate that in both instances my employer chose to observe the FMLA – or at least a modified version of it.

    I couldn’t find the exact statistic for companies with under 50 employees but acording to the Small Business Administration smaller firms with fewer than 100 employees employed 41.0 million in 2005. Now I do not know how many of those companies employ less than 50 people, but I would imagine that it is still a large number.

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