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SUBJECTS › PERSONNEL › The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
Reviewed 11/08

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-3) allows eligible employees to take reasonable unpaid leave (up to 12 full weeks each year) for the birth or adoption of a child, the new placement of a foster child, or the serious illness of the employee or close family member. This law was intended to extend job protection to employees for specified family and medical reasons, as well as benefiting employers by stabilizing their employee's home life, thus making employees more productive and less distracted at work.

Although all public agencies (including local governments) are covered by the FMLA, not all public employees are covered. To be eligible, employees have to work for a covered employer for at least 12 months (they need not be consecutive) and must have worked at least 1,250 hours within the prior 12-months. The eligible employee must work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed, and be within 75 surface miles of the employer.

There are five Titles in the Family and Medical Leave Act:

  • Title I. General Requirements for Leave -- Covers private employers of 50 or more employees, public agencies [as defined in Section 3(e) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 203(e)] and certain federal employers and agencies, such as the U.S. Postal Service.
  • Title II. Covers federal and civil service employees.
  • Title III. Concerns the establishment of a Commission conducting a comprehensive study on employment and family leave.
  • Title IV. Contains miscellaneous provisions pertaining to effective dates, regulations, the effect of the Act on more generous leave policies, collective bargaining agreements, and other laws.
  • Title V. Extends similar leave provisions to certain employees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The Act was recently amended "to permit a "spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin" to take up to 26 workweeks of leave to care for a "member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness."  See The Family and Medical Leave Act and National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008

Federal legislation was adopted in 2008 that provides up to 26 weeks of leave during a single 12-month period to allow a family member to care for a member (who is a spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin) of the armed forces who has been injured in the line of duty.  The legislation also allows a spounse, son, daughter or parent of a member of the armed forces to take up to 12 weeks of leave to deal with issues that arise when a member of the armed forces is called into active duty.  Similar legislation has been adopted in Washington in 2008 (SB 6447) allowing 15 says of leave per deployment.

New rules have been adopted which will go into effect January 16, 2009.  The rules cover or provide, among other things, the expansion of FMLA leave for military families, light duty, notice rquirements, a definition for the term "serious health condition," and revisions to the medical certification process.

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