Family and Medical Leave Act: Economic, Social, and Policy Analysis

This report analyzes the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and various paid family leave policies in the United States, including maternity, annual, and medical leaves. It discusses the benefits of paid family leave, such as improved health outcomes for newborns, quicker recovery from illnesses, and economic security for families. The report highlights the importance of paid leave for both parents and the positive impact on gender equality in the workplace. It explores different state policies, the economic feasibility of paid leave programs, and the need for comprehensive legislation that supports all types of families. The report emphasizes the need for at least three months of paid parental leave and the potential for social insurance to support workers, especially those in small businesses or facing job transitions. The conclusion underscores the importance of implementing and expanding paid family leave policies for the well-being of families and the economy. The report also mentions the impact of paid family leave on the EU countries and the need for governments to increase the level of support for working parents.

Running Head: FAMILY LEAVE OF ABSENT
Family Leave of Absent
Student’s Name
Institution
Date

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Question 3
Twenty-six years ago, the United States (USA) passed the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA), which guarantees employees up to 12 weeks of leave for family or medical reasons.
However, the time remaining from work is unpaid, and there are many restrictions on who can
use FMLA, therefore making it inaccessible to millions of American workers (Lee, Read &
Markham, 2018).
There are various paid family leaves available and the first paid leave is the maternity
leave where the female workers are entitled to three months of the leave with full payment upon
the delivery of the child. New York paid vacation law is more generous than in other states. In
California and New Jersey, they provide paid leave for six weeks, in Rhode Island - for four.
Washington also passed a law on paid family leave, which will ultimately be even more
generous than in New York. In 2020, it will provide residents of the state with up to 12 weeks of
paid leave while retaining 90% of wages.
In accordance with the federal law on maternity leave, employers with 50 or more
employees must allow new parents 12 weeks of leave to care for the newborn, but this vacation
is not paid. There are some requirements attached to the maternity paid leave and the first is that
the worker give the written notice of at least 7 days or fewer days depending on the
circumstances attached before going for the leave in a date specified. The second requirement is
the provision of the worker’s certificate of medical condition to the employer from a medical
practitioner or midwifery that is qualified to practice if confirmation is required. This kind of
leave can either be extended to a sick leave or the annual leave or any other with the employer’s
consent (Addati, Cassirer, & Gilchrist 2014).

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The second kind of the family paid leave is the annual leave which involve the
Employment Act that provide the annual leave to all the workers on completion of the one-year
term of service. The workers are also entitled to uniform number of days i.e. one month to be
precise depending on the countries policies that means the average of 21 working days for a 12
months’ service which can be taken at different intervals of the year. This leave is also entitled to
full form of payment at the period of the annual leave. The annual leave also does not include the
weekly rest days or the public holidays or even other types of the leaves allowed by the law.
There are also other public holidays regulated under the Public Holiday Act where the employees
are entitled to the employees and also full payment of their wages are guaranteed and some of
them are the New year’s day, the Good Friday, Easter Moday,Christmas day and others .The
other commonly available family paid leave is the medical leave or sick leave which is very
crucial to ensure that the families stay with their family members at trying and difficult moment
as a result of sickness or accidents and other issues related to their health status. This law help
protects the loved ones and ensure that they stay healthy. The laws came about as a result of
collaboration between the business owners, policy makers labor unions as well as the many
individuals. An extended leave also can be applied for a covered condition and depending on the
country’s policies, first notify the employee and the apply directly for the paid leave program.
There are circumstances that allow the entitlement of the paid leave which is not a compulsory to
be taken at all, can be taken if any of the family member is terminally ill or needs medical
attention by the family working member, others involved in accidents and may require more than
expected time to recover and so on. While the some states are lugging behind other states have
implemented the family leave laws. There are working mothers that struggle to patch together
both the paid and unpaid leaves which differ depending on the type of work, the history of the

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work, the employer size as well as the residence states and other factors( United States.2017). In
2016 only a considerable number of the mothers that had access to paid leave where 14%
received the paid leave as an employee benefit (Bureau of labor statistics, 2016). Some of the
parental leave is offered as part of the employee packages by the private –public employers.
Question 4
Paid family leave should be highly recommended as it has various benefits for example
from the successful research done in various states such as the Washington show that with paid
family and medical leave insurance the babies become more healthier and also grow better
within their first year of life and beyond, People in various age categories recover more quickly
from serious illnesses when under care ,Seniors or aged are also better taken care of as they age
and also the families become more economically secure and more businesses thriving due to the
paid support even when they are on leave. There are states that advocate for the affordable paid
family leave for the employees where the business owners and the employees are paid by the
payroll premiums. Workers will pay 63 % of the weakly premium while the employers
contribute to their 37 percent. Also companies with fewer than 50 employees are exempted from
the payment of the employer contribution unlike the employees who will pay the same amount
allocated. This allows the smaller companies to compete better and also making them more
flexible to add hours for the other employees, also it ensures support in case someone needs
additional help when out on leave. The payment cost is also low and can be predicted from year
to year.
Another benefit to the employees is that they are more likely to come back to work when
they are fully ready and with peace of mind to become more productive. According to the new
York’s law the family paid law program is being built within the infrastructure of the New

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York’s temporary disability insurance where the employees are entitled to eight weeks leave in
the first year of the program, and their 50 % of their weekly wage benefits. The employers are
not supposed to be responsible for their employees’ salaries while on leave rather the partial
wage replacement offered during leave is covered by the employee payroll deductions. The
program is entirely covered by the employees. This is beneficial to the small businesses to
compete for the best employees as well as offering the employer’s peace of mind that they are
offering the best for their employees. The program will be funded by the small contributions
from the employees where in the first year employee’s will be offered the paid leave at 50 %
benefit as the statewide weekly average and the rate of the employee’s payroll deductions for the
paid family leave will be 0.126% of the employee’s weekly wage (Cloutier, 2019). This program
will help he employees to spend quality time with the loved ones without the worry of whether to
pay their bills or even keep their jobs secure. Therefore, this legislation laws should be well
implemented for everyone’s benefit.
Question 8
The paid family leave will help in many ways. One of the main problems for most
parents, but especially for women, is the need to combine employment with family
responsibilities. In the countries of the European Union, increasing female employment forces
governments to increase the level of support for working parents. Various types of support may
be provided, including: maternity leave, parental leave, childcare facilities, flexible work hours,
etc (Kornfeld, 2018).
Paid family leave in the United States is associated with health and economic well-being.
This is because it allows workers to have a newborn baby with health benefits for both the child
and the parents, and the positive dividends in the health field will continue for many years. This

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allows workers to take care of seriously ill family members, helping them recover completely. It
provides workers with chronic illnesses the ability to remain attached to the workforce. It also
corresponds to a strong economy (Shute, 2017).
“Having a child, taking personal sick leave, or taking parental leave in the United States
is often at an extremely high price,” said Dr. Jody Heimann, founder of the WORLD Policy
Analysis Center (WORLD) and dean of the UCLA School of Public Health Fielding. Low or
nonexistent wage replacement rates make it difficult or impossible for some workers to leave
work (Denly 2018). For many workers, dismissal is associated with fear of losing their jobs and
income, which is crucial to keeping the family afloat (Denly 2018). This report is based on a
systematic review of more than 5,500 studies on paid family and medical leave in high-income
countries, medical data on how paid leave can support health and recovery, and economic
feasibility analysis for families, companies and governments (Denly 2018). .
It is important for mothers to have at least three months of paid parental leave. Six
months of paid maternity leave significantly increase both health and economic benefits for the
household (Hoffman, 2018).
Ensuring an equal amount of leave for fathers can support maternal health, the role of the
father in the family, and improve gender equality in the family and in the workplace. Separate
benefits for each parent are needed to support both parents leaving.
Legislation should cover all families. The allowances for family and childcare benefits
that are created for an individual, not a family, should have provisions that guarantee that
widows or single parents are left with half as much as a married couple and individual benefits
should be gender-nervous.

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Paid family leave is also economically feasible. Social insurance is economically viable
for everyone. Social insurance facilitates the inclusion of workers who work for small
businesses, change jobs or fields, lose their jobs when a company has laid off or reduced in the
industry, worked seasonally or periodically using the reduced opportunities for the economic
downturn, or recently completed a training period. The best available evidence suggests that a
wage replacement rate of at least 80% is important to ensure gender equality on vacation; when
wage replacement rates are low, parents earning higher wages are unlikely to leave.
It is encouraging to see solutions to family and medical leave in the aisle in every state,
and it’s important to remember that the length of the leave and the sources of financing for the
leave should support all types of families at all income levels

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References
Addati, L., Cassirer, N., & Gilchrist, K. (2014). Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and
Practice across the World. Geneva: International Labour Office.
Cloutier, D. (2019). The Family-Leave Impasse. Commonweal, 146(15), 16–18.
Denly, C. (2018). Paid Family Medical Leave in the U.S.: Good for Families, Good for the
Economy. UCLA. Retrieved from: https://ph.ucla.edu/news/press-release/2018/feb/paid-
family-medical-leave-us-good-families-good-economy
Hoffman, J. B. (2018). Family forward: Catholic companies offer creative solutions to support
parents and families. U.S. Catholic, 83(4), 12–16.
Isaacs, Healy &peters (2017). Paid Family leave in the United States: Family and medical
insurance leave Act, H.R 947
Kornfeld, S. K. (2018). A Need Not Being Met: Providing Paid Family and Medical Leave for
All Americans. Family Court Review, 56(1), 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12329
Lee, K. S., Read, D. W., & Markham, C. (2018). The Case for Extending Coverage of the Family
and Medical Leave Act to Include a Period of Time Following the Death of a Family
Member for Whom Leave Was Taken. Southern Law Journal, 28(1), 27–45.
Shute, R. N. (2017). Family and Medical Leave: Examining Recovery and Bonding Time to
Promote Healthy Families Who Utilize Surrogacy. Family Law Quarterly, 51(1), 95–116.
United States. (2017). Paid family leave: The benefits for businesses and working families:
hearing before the Subcommittee on Children and Families of the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth
Congress, second session ... July 30, 2014

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