Family and Medical Leave

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a United States labor law allowing an employee to take unpaid leave due to a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform his job or to care for a sick family member or to care for a new son or daughter (including by birth, adoption or foster care). It was one of the first major bills signed by President Bill Clinton in his first term, fulfilling a campaign promise.

The law recognizes the growing needs of balancing family, work, and obligations and promises numerous protections to workers. Some of these protections include:

Twelve (12) workweeks of leave per twelve (12) months for various reasons such as
- Caring for the birth, adoption, or foster care placement issues
- Caring for a sick child, spouse or parent
- Being physically unable to perform one's job
Restoration to the same position upon return to work. If the same position is unavailable, the employer must provide the worker with a position that is substantially equal in pay, benefits, and responsibility.
Protection of employee benefits even while on leave. An employee is entitled to reinstatement of all benefits to which the employee was entitled before going on leave.
Protection of the employee to not have their rights under the Act interfered with or denied by an employer.
Protection of the employee from retaliation by an employer for exercising rights under the Act.

Generally, the Act ensures that all workers are able to take extended leaves of absence from work to handle family issues or illness without fear of being terminated from their jobs by their employers or being forced into a lower job upon their return.

The leave guaranteed by the act is unpaid, and is available to those working for employers with 50 or more employees within a 75 mile radius. In addition, an employee must have worked for the company at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in those 12 months. The benefits provided by the Act are not as generous to employees as policies in some other countries, such as Sweden. Swedish parental leave provides an unusually generous 480 days (16 months) of paid leave (80% or more of wage) with similar right of return protections as its American counterpart.