Editor’s note: This article was updated in October 2015.
You may recall my post asking you to show support for the Family Medical Leave Act. The Labor Department wanted public comment on this important law that legally allows us WMAGs to take off work when we have babies (what a concept!)
According to a July 5 post on the On Balance blog, the DOL has heard your comments—more than 15,000 of them. Now it plans to … drumroll, please … do nothing about them. The department did issue a 181-page report, though. That and a nickel will get you a hot cup of jack squat.
I’ll be keeping an eye out to see if anything ever comes of this report. Maybe it will help get the proposed Balancing Act and Healthy Families Act passed? Or at least give the next president something to work on. Just 563 days to go … but who’s counting?
Headed in the right direction
Since this post was first published, family and medical leave law hasn’t progressed as far as I’d like, but at least same-sex couples are now treated equally when it comes to legally guaranteed leave. The U.S. Department of Labor explained in this update back in February 2015:
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division today announced a Final Rule to revise the definition of spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor, which found section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. The Final Rule amends the definition of spouse so that eligible employees in legal same-sex marriages will be able to take FMLA leave to care for their spouse or family member, regardless of where they live.
So, that’s something. We still have a long way to go.
More about FMLA and other policies that impact working families
- Using Maternity Leave to Advance(!) Your Career (3-part series)
- Three Weeks: Is Maternity Leave Too Short?: Is maternity leave too short in the United States? Unfortunately, for many mothers, the answer is yes. What can we do to improve working motherhood for all?
- 10 Creative Mom-Friendly Workplace Practices: Working mom Wendy Kirwan shares some excellent ideas about how to make workplaces more parent-friendly. Very inspiring — see if you can get your employer to adopt some of these.
- Baby Steps Back to Work: Certified life coach Heather Carpenter Stegal shares her guide for maternity leave and how moms can successfully transition back to work.
- MomsRising: Making America More Family-Friendly: Find out why we dig MomsRising, a grassroots, online-based effort to mobilize moms—and those who care about moms—across America as a force for change.
- Don’t Get Guilty, Get Even: The U.S. is an increasingly hostile place to live for millions of working moms and dads. It’s important to know how this affects you, and what you can do to change things.
- Help Working Parents, Help Your Business: US employers, take note: When businesses support working parents with things like flexibility and understanding managers, workplace productivity increases.
- Why I Don’t Believe in Mommy Guilt: Why take on the burden of mommy guilt? Instead of blaming yourself, let’s focus on the societal structures that make it so hard for working families.
- Happy Anniversary, FMLA: Celebrate the passing of the Family and Medical Leave Act, legislation enacted in 1993 to guarantee employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family and medical needs.
- Maternity Leave: It’s Not Just for Moms Anymore!: Introducing a resource for moms AND dads that offers real-life stories and tips for how to stay on track when you take time off to have a child.
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6 thoughts on “Feeling Powerless About the State of FMLA?”
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Just another example of how the current administration has all of its appointees geared to do nothing but take this country down with the ship. 🙁 I am very disappointed to hear that DOL buckled.
Glad to see that you’re administration has all their ducks in line and are currently working on REAL needs of America’s citizen’s (sarcastic). I hate that this has happened.
*shakes head* Sad, sad day. America’s future means absolutely nothing to them is really what they’re saying.
Amen. Agree that we need a comprehensive legislative solution. The Department of Labor (as presently comprised) is no friend of the working mother. Here is an exchange between the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor, Karen Czarnecki, and ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas:
“We need to do more to encourage Americans to save more for the times that they do need to be out of the work force,” Czarnecki said.
ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas said to Czarnecki: “It’s up to a person to save enough money before they have a baby to be able to stay home for a few weeks and recover and spend some time with that new baby?”
Czarnecki said: “Yeah, I think people have to take responsibility for themselves and they shouldn’t always look to government to have an answer for them.”
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=2844384
Also worthy note from the ABC piece: “A study out this week from Harvard and McGill University in Canada shows that of 173 countries surveyed, only five provided no form of paid maternity leave — Papua New Guinea, Lesotho, Swaziland, Liberia and, perhaps surprisingly for some, the United States.”
Interesting, Too Cool for School. I wonder what Czarnecki thinks the government’s answer should be for women who get pregnant and decide they don’t have enough saved up for a baby. It always seems that folks who believe government shouldn’t get involved in helping others have no problem with the idea of the government getting involved in some of peoples’ most intimate life decisions. The two start to overlap, in my opinion, where family planning and help for working parents overlap. If you’re going to chastise people for not being prepared to have children, then you shouldn’t force people to have children.
Sara, good point! Selective government intrusion is okay, right.
The other thing is: she’s framing paid leave as a pure entitlement, and that’s a red herring. We don’t want to burden the government and the taxpaying public. On the contrary. We want mandatory paid leave to accomodate the economic reality of mothers in the workforce. This is about contributing to corporate america, not draining it.
Barack Obama has said that the big government/small government paradigm that defines the two major political parties is outdated – a relic of the new deal and the 60s. Under this line of thinking, any expansion of federal authority = bad. And while I generally favor smaller government, this type of characterization is narrow-minded and regressive. Obama uses the term “smart government” to describe government programs that represent an expansion of the federal govt in ways that are progressive. Mandatory paid FMLA leave is an example of such a policy, in my opinion.