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The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States federal law requiring covered employers to provide employees job-protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. Qualified medical and family reasons include: personal or family illness, family military leave, pregnancy, adoption, or the foster care placement of a child.〔"Family and Medical Leave Act," Stephen Bruce. HR Daily Advisor. () Retrieved on 20 September 2011.〕 The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor. The bill was a major part of President Bill Clinton's agenda in his first term. President Clinton signed the bill into law on February 5, 1993 (; 29 U.S.C. sec. 2601; 29 CFR 825) and it took effect on August 5, 1993, six months later. The FMLA was intended "to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families."〔"Findings and Purposes," 29 U.S.C. § 2601 http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/statutes/fmla.htm〕 The Act allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to attend to the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child. In order to be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have been at the business at least 12 months, and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. The FMLA covers both public- and private-sector employees, but certain categories of employees are excluded, including elected officials and their personal staff members.〔29 U.S.C. § 2611〕 ==Provisions== In June 2007, the Department of Labor estimated that of the 141.7 million workers in the United States, 94.4 million worked at FMLA-covered worksites, and 76.1 million were eligible for FMLA leave. Between 8 percent and 17.1 percent of covered and eligible workers (or between 6.1 million and 13.0 million workers) took FMLA leave in 2005.〔"Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations: A Report on the Department of Labor’s Request for Information." 28 June 2007. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division. ''Federal Register'', Vol. 72, No. 124. ()〕 The 2008 National Survey of Employers found no statistically significant difference between the proportion of small employers (79%) and large employers (82%) that offer full FMLA coverage.〔Galinsky, E., Bond, J., Sakai, K., Kim, S., Giuntoli, N. 2008. National study of employers. New York, NY: Families and Work Institute. ()〕 The United States Congress passed this bill with the understanding that “it is important for the development of children and the family unit that fathers and mothers be able to participate in early childrearing … () the lack of employment policies to accommodate working parents can force individuals to choose between job security and parenting”.〔Congress. 1993. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Washington, D.C. pH.R.1–2 quoted〕 Although much of the research has been conducted on populations in other countries,〔Gregg,P.E., Washbrook et al. 2005. "The Effects of a Mother's Return to Work Decision on Child Development in the UK." ''The Economic Journal''. 115(501):F48-F80.〕 Berger et al.〔Berger, L.M., Hill, et al. 2005. "Maternity Leave, Early Maternal Employment and Child Health Development in the US." ''The Economic Journal''. 115(501):F29-F47.〕 found that children in the United States whose mothers return to work within the first 3 months after giving birth are less likely to be breastfed, less likely to have all of their immunizations up to date (by 18 months), less likely to receive all of their regular medical checkups, and are more likely to exhibit behavior problems at age four. Chatterji and Markowitz 〔Chatterji, P. and Markowitz, S. 2005. "Does the Length of Maternity Leave Affect Mental Health." ''Southern Economic Journal''. 72(1):16–41.〕 also found an association between longer lengths of maternity leave and lesser incidence of depression among mothers. In the creation of the bill, Congress also stressed that this piece of legislation was intended to provide leave protection for individuals “in a manner that accommodates the legitimate interests of employers”.〔Congress. 1993. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Washington, D.C. pH.R.1–2 quoted.〕 In order to accomplish this, the FMLA places restrictions on which workers are eligible for the unpaid, job-protected leave. Workers are eligible if they have been employed for at least 12 months by their employer, and have worked at least 1,250 hours during the past 12 months for their employer (roughly equivalent to 25 hours per week). Employees who meet these conditions are not eligible, however, if their employer has fewer than 50 employees (either at that work site or within a 75-mile radius of that site). In addition, if a husband and wife have the same employer, “the aggregate number of workweeks of leave to which both may be entitled may be limited to 12 workweeks” 〔Congress. 1993. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Washington, D.C. pH.R.1–6 quoted.〕 if the employer so chooses. A final stipulation of eligibility deals with “highly compensated employees” who are defined as “a salaried eligible employee who is among the highest paid 10 percent of the employees employed by the employer within 75 miles of the facility at which the employee is employed”.〔Congress. 1993. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Washington, D.C. pH.R.1–8 quoted.〕 These highly paid individuals are eligible for the leave, but their employers are not required to restore them to their original position (or an equivalent position with equivalent pay and benefits, as is guaranteed to other employees) if the employer determines that denying the employee their position is “necessary to prevent substantial and grievous economic injury to the operations of the employer” 〔 and the employer provides the worker with notice of this decision, though no time frame for providing this notice is established. If, after meeting all of the above requirements, an employee is determined to be eligible and takes the job-protected leave, it is in an unpaid status unless the employer either elects to provide paid compensation for the leave, or if the employee elects to use their annual and/or sick leave for this time. In addition, the legislation allows for the ability of the employer to require that the employee use their accrued paid leave time while taking leave under the FMLA.〔Congress. 1993. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Washington, D.C.〕 As a result of the many conditions attached to eligibility for leave under the FMLA, many American workers find themselves ineligible to take job-protected leave upon the birth or adoption of a child. Han and Waldfogel, in their analysis of the impact of the FMLA, note that “only about 60% of private sector workers are covered” 〔Han, W.-J. and Waldfogel, J. 2003. "Parental Leave: The Impact of Recent Legislation on Parents' Leave-Taking." ''Demography''. 40(1):191–200. p191 quoted.〕 due to the clause stipulating a minimum number of employees, and once the clause stipulating a minimum number of hours worked is added, only 46% of private sector workers are eligible for leave under the FMLA. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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