In 1993, then President Bill Clinton sought to find a support system to aid the rapid growth in the workforce, which was increasingly made up of women with families.  The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed “to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families.”  This Act allowed both women and men to participate in work, but also protect them if a medical need arose.  Under this Federal Act, employers with fifty of more employees were required to provide up to twelve weeks to attend to serious health conditions of the employee, a parent, spouse or child.  It also provided for pregnancy and care of a newborn, adopted child or foster child.

In order to qualify, the employee needed to have worked in the business for at least twelve month and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past twelve months. (In 2008, different requirements and time periods were given to active duty families.  This leave was unpaid leave, and merely protected the employee’s right to benefits during the leave and return to their job or one of equal level, compensation and benefits.  Note that highly compensated employees have more limited rights when it comes to FMLA. Read More