The Family and Medical Leave Act at 30

Susan Lang is a Wage and Hour Division investigator who has worked in the Wichita, Kansas, Area Office since 1985. As part of our commemoration of the Family and Medical Leave Act’s 30th anniversary, we asked for her perspective on the FMLA’s enactment in 1993 and what it means to workers today.

Q: How significant was the FMLA’s enactment and how did the law help workers in its first few years?

The FMLA’s enactment allowed employees with serious health conditions to temporarily set aside their work activities. The result was healthier employees who were able to focus on their health, rather than juggling medical concerns and job requirements while living in fear of losing their jobs because of health-related absences. It was groundbreaking for federal law to allow workers to take leave to take care of themselves and their loved ones without fear of facing disciplinary action or retaliation.

Q: How have you helped your coworkers and the public understand the FMLA over the past 30 years?

I’ve trained hundreds of new investigators on the FMLA. For several years, I also provided training at Kansas City District Office staff meetings on different FMLA topics.

My first FMLA outreach event was in August 1993 with the Wichita Bar Association . Unfortunately, the law was so new that the only Wage and Hour Division guidance I had at the time was a two-page fact sheet on the FMLA’s basic principles. Today, I do about a dozen outreach events per year for organizations such as the Kansas Association of School Business Officials ( Kansas ASBO ), various Society for Human Resource Management ( SHRM ) chapters, and the Kansas Association of City and County Clerks. I always speak about FMLA at these events. Since 1999, I’ve done more than 275 outreach events and most of them have included an FMLA component. I often receive calls about FMLA, and many of these callers, including employers and employees, first heard about the law during one of my presentations.

Q: How has the Wage and Hour Division’s FMLA enforcement strengthened worker protections?

Our agency has helped many individuals who were initially denied their FMLA rights by an employer. We’ve recovered significant back wages, gotten workers their jobs back and ensured they kept their health insurance. We’ve not only helped these individuals, but also helped large groups of workers when we teach employers how to correct FMLA policies that don’t comply with the law.

Q: What have you noticed about interactions between employers and employees since the FMLA was enacted?

Now that the FMLA has been in place for 30 years, employers and workers often know the rules. The law has provided a common set of standards for covered employers to follow. An employer can plan for an employee’s absence, or if there are unforeseen or intermittent absences, the employer often has a contingency plan. Eligible employees are assured that they can take partial days, full days, a week or several weeks off to address their health concerns and then come back to work.

Q: How has the Wage and Hour Division’s guidance affected the public’s understanding of the FMLA?

Our FMLA posters, forms, fact sheets, and employer and employee guides have improved significantly over the years. They’re written in plain language and they’re user-friendly. Today, with these publications available for free on our website, more workers know their rights and more employers know their responsibilities than in 1993.

Q: How have workers responded to the employee protections provided by the FMLA?

Thanks to this law, workers seem more willing to stand up for themselves when they need time off work because of their health issues or those of a family member. They know the FMLA protects them and there’s an enforcement agency that has their back.

?

#fmla #FMLA30 #publicservice #hr #governmentjobs