Running head: FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE ACT

Family Medical Leave Act

Troy A. Kirk, Brenna M. Smith, Karin Troy
University of North Carolina at Pembroke

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Abstract

The Family Medical Leave Act provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees that have
worked 12 consecutive months. The rise of chronic illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimers, and
dementia require individuals to request these unpaid pays and more just to care for the needs of
their loved ones. Therefore, employees should be provided emergency weeks in cases of
unintended events that occur shortly after a previous event.

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Every day there is a new life being born; every day there is another life gone and every
day someone gets diagnosed with an illness. The new child being born, the person that died and
the person that was just diagnosed with a new illness is someones loved one. The loved ones of
these individuals have jobs, and they have to miss work to attend to the new things happening in
their life. These absences are waived by the Family Medical Leave Act.
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Family Medical Leave Act protects employees in their absence for twelve unpaid
weeks of a year due to the following reasons: employee gives birth to a new child and needs to
care for child after birth, employee has recently adopted a child or taken in a foster child,
employee needs to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious illness, or the employee has a
serious illness (U. S. Department of Labor Wage and Division, 2012). An employee may not
receive such benefits until they have been working with their current employer for at least twelve
months or have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the past twelve months (U. S. Department of
Labor Wage and division, 2012).
A lot can happen in a single persons life over a twelve month period. An individual may
give birth to a new baby, which may be born prematurely and have to stay in the hospital for
three months. The individual may want to stay with their new born until the new born is able to
come home. A new born in the NICU for three months equals an employee out of work for
twelve weeks. Two months after this same individuals child is released from the hospital, their

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mother has to have surgery and will need someone to care for her for at least two weeks after
being discharged from the hospital. This individual has already maxed out their family medical
leave for the year and has no more unpaid protected time. This individual is faced with a
dilemma, allowing their mother to go home and care for herself or take time off work to help her
and possibly be terminated from their job.
Policy Change Suggestion
A situation such as this happens to at least one person every year and they are faced with
the hard decision of deciding what to do. This is why there should be extra emergency weeks
available for workers in a twelve month period in case of a situation such as this. Any citizen can
advocate for a policy change, but with the Family Medical Leave Act with it being a policy that
affects working individuals, a person who is directly affected by the policy should be the person
advocating for the change.
The first step in advocating for a policy change should involve using the current policy to
frame the plan. First the issue with the current problem (only twelve weeks of medical leave in a
twelve month period) should be identified to support the reasoning for change (North Carolina
Health Wellness, n. d.). A team should be formed to provide a strong support system with
individuals who have knowledge about the Family Medical Leave Act and wants to see a change
in it and bring strength to the case. An interview with a stakeholder about Family Medical Leave
Act should be conducted to determine barriers and share information. Time should be spent
gathering supporters who can stand with an individual to make the change a success. A request
for support may be made with business and government agencies whom the policy directly
affects will serve as a great benefit (North Carolina Health Wellness, n.d.).

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Step two involves forming and utilizing the community and agencies that the policy
directly affects. Together everyone should review the policy and gather data that will help make
a policy change. If there was a change in the policy in another state then review the effectiveness
of their policy change (North Carolina Health Wellness, n.d.).
Step three is developing a draft of the new policy. Everyone whom the policy applies to
should be identified and everywhere the policy applies to should be identified as well and as
specific as possible. In the policy draft there should be a specific date in which the new policy is
to take effect. The pros and cons of the new policy should also be listed in the policy draft (North
Carolina Health Wellness, n.d.).
Step four involves meeting with a government representative and electing or identifying
specific individuals to speak publicly on the issues with the policy and the change that needs to
occur. The individuals speaking on the policy should be able to convey the importance of the
policy change to the representatives and the audience (North Carolina Health Wellness, n.d.).
Supported Evidence
According to GeorgeTown University Law Center (2008), there is an increasing need for
extended time off following FMLA. The demographics in the workplace have changed over the
years where there are a lot of women in the workplace now. Women are requiring time off to
care for newborn children more often. According to GeorgeTown University Law Center
(2008), nearly 20% of individuals that took FMLA leave used their longest leave to care for a
newborn, or newly adopted child. GeorgeTown University of Law Center (2008) suggested the
ideal length of time a new mother or father should have off work is four to six months.
HR Specialist (2010) suggested late retirees (elderly) require extended time off more
frequently than any other demographic. According to HR Specialist (2010), the number of

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workers 50 and over grew by 50% between 2002 and 2012. Individuals 50-55 and over often
times request extended time off due to age related medical conditions, mid-life crisis, death of a
parent or recovery following surgery (HR Specialist, 2010).
According to Doll (2013), unexpected things happen in life which may require an
individual to miss work for a certain length of time. Many individuals have to balance working
and being a caregiver. Doll (2013) suggested 60% of individuals covered by FMLA have the
duty of caring for someone other than themselves, whether it be caring for a spouse, parent or
child; the individual may have to stay out of work for an extended period and return at a later
time.
According to CLRC (2013), there are five states in the U.S. where an employee has a
right to short term paid disability benefits. An individual may be eligible for short term paid
disability benefits following incidents such as: a car accident, post-surgery and cancer recovery
(CLRC, 2013). The following states: California, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and
Hawaii provides paid maternity benefits, whereas in the other 45 states including North Carolina
maternity benefits are only available if the employer offers them or the employee uses FMLA
leave (CLRC, 2013).
Cultural Accommodations
Diversity in the workplace has increased over the past two decades and will continue to
increase as the population continues to grow. Workplaces today are full of employees of
different ethnicities, religions and cultural backgrounds, so it is important for workplaces and
public policies to be friendly towards various cultures (Santonocito, 2001). Fortunately for
various ethnicities and cultural backgrounds FMLA tends to be fair to everyone. FMLAs

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policies apply to all ethnicities and cultures so no special accommodations are necessary (U. S.
Department of Labor Wage and division, 2012).
Effects on Rural Environment
According to United States Census Bureau (2015), Robeson Countys 2010 population
estimate of 134,168 has grown to 134,841 as of 2013. These statistics indicate that births in this
rural area are on the rise and some women had to stay out of work to give birth to new babies, in
which they were most likely protected by FMLA. As part of natural plans deaths come with
births, and deaths affect everyone at some point in life even those who work and may be
protected by FMLA (United States Census Bureau, 2015).
Between 2004 and 2008 approximately 926 deaths occurred due to various illness such
as: heart diseases accounting for 24%, cancer accounting for 21%, cerebrovascular disease
accounting for 6%, Diabetes Mellitus accounting for 5%, unintentional motor vehicle accidents
accounting for 4% and all other deaths accounting for 40% (East Carolina University, 2011).
Due to evidence of an increase of about 673 individuals in a three year period and the large
number of deaths in a four year period indicates that there may be a need for extra emergency
protected time even in a rural area like Robeson County. Extra emergency protected time offered
by FMLA would serve as a benefit to all (East Carolina University, 2011).
The Coalition
Within the community, three organizations were chosen to form a coalition for our team
to revise the FMLA policy. In reference to the 12-week maximum leave in a 12-month period,
coalition members were chosen in regards to their involvement with clients, employees, and
personal experiences. Starting with the Home Health and Hospice center the services provided at
this facility seek to provide care and aid to those that have an illness, surgery, and end of life

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preparations. This agency is familiar with life situations dealing with illness and advocates for
clients within the community. Their involvement in the coalition could shed light on the time that
needs to be allocated for terminally ill patients. On the other hand, the Person County
Government of Human Resources was also chosen. The need for this was to speak with an
administrator who solely dealt with benefits and personnel files. The information provided by this
agency could give an explanation on the amount of request for additional time. Therefore, they
stated that is not a common situation. The Department of Social Services was the last agency
chosen to join the coalition. For, they provide services to individuals that may encounter gaps in
the FMLA policy. Additionally, this agency serves and protects as well as advocates for the wellbeing of individuals. The information provided by the Adult Protective Service supervisor
focused on hardships of taking care of adults with disabilities or illnesses. In some cases families
seek the help of the DSS to provide care for families in the case they are limited to time.
Therefore, the organizations chosen were in hopes to consider the proposal of increasing FMLA
and based their choices solely on their own personal opinions and not that of the agencies.
The cautions and boundaries to consider with implementing this proposal are minimal as
long as we abide and uphold the code of ethics. In addition, we should ensure maintaining a
professional and knowledgeable point. Thus, caution should be exercised when protecting the
confidentiality of an employee requesting extra time through FMLA to ensure the privacy of the
employees medical and personal information. The HIPPA laws are in place to protect
individuals and are the responsibility of the employee for disclosure of any personal medical
information with others. As well as, the individual requesting time they should be cautious when
sharing information with coworkers to avoid being challenged for extending their time. The
individual should direct the request with personnel and management to stay within the FMLA

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boundaries.
In reference to increasing the FMLA time the hospice social worker agreed. She
expressed that the length of time given by a Dr. may not hold true and some patients may even
get better. This statement is why the social worker feels that increasing the length of time could
help family members out. Although, in some cases it may be a financial burden to the family
member taking FMLA, the need for them to be with their loved one should not be denied.
If a person is diagnosed and given 2-3 months to live a family member could request the time.
However, if at the end of this time the person improves and lives for the next four months to
become terminally ill again there may not be any time left for them to request. Therefore, the
social worker strongly voiced that if an individual needed more time the12-week period could be
extended after a revisit of the request and an evaluation.
The supervisor for the Department of Social Services was also in agreement with our
coalition. As she stated There are a lot of elderly people that get stuck in group homes or
assisted family homes due to the lack of family members having the time to care for them.
Elderly or disabled patients may have several doctor visits a month or may be in and out of the
hospital within a 12-month period consuming a number of requested days off. For that reason,
she thought family members may not need to consider taking their loved ones out of their homes
if the length of time for FMLA was increased. Even in some cases families cannot afford to miss
a large amount of unpaid time and they look to DSS for resources. However, it may take some
time for resources to be established. In the meantime the responsibility falls upon the family,
which creates stress as they need to juggle work and their loved-ones. Modification to the
existing FMLA policy could give opportunity for the elderly, disabled, and families to have more
time together and less time given to strangers to ensure that the well-being of their loved-ones

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are priority.
On the other hand, the human resource specialist with the Person County Govt. expressed
that the FMLA policy was fine and did not need to be modified. The 12-week FMLA time
should not be considered until sick time, comp time, and vacation has been exhausted. Most jobs
also offer short-term disability in cases that deal directly with the employee such as surgery or a
brief leave of absence due to medical issues. Therefore, the amount of time already provided
should fulfill the desired need to accommodate any situation. Additionally, an employee that
requires a lengthy absence may cause stress on other employees needing to share the
responsibility of their workload. In addition, there may be individuals that would abuse more
time and neglect their job responsibility. An individual needs to make choices that are long term
and consider the negative outcomes that affect others. There are resources available if needed to
help accommodate families that are faced with loved ones needing 24-hour care. In addition,
other family members may be able to share the burdens of care. This would allow a decision to
be conservative with managing job responsibilities. However, the HRS also stated that she would
not be against the coalition and would possibly join if there was an immense need. Despite my
claims, reasons, and examples for the needed modification for the coalition the HR specialist
remained stern with her decision. She claimed that she has not dealt with any employee that
needed to request additional time past the 12-week period and felt it was not a policy that needed
her participation. In addition, she feels that family is important and should come first. However,
jobs can be replaced and employers do not hesitate to fill positions but a loved one in their last
days cannot the choice would be that of the employee.
Unintended Consequences

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Many times tragic events are unpredictable and can quickly cause a detrimental change in
ones life. For example, a working single mother may be called from work because her child had
an asthma attack and after her 3 month leave her mother is diagnosed with stage three bone
cancer requiring 24 hour supervision. Some employers are strictly business and have no
sympathy for mothers in this situation because they have a job that must be done. Therefore, if
this mother stays on leave for a year, the security of her job may decrease. Employers act on
decisions that will benefit the company instead of the employee, so more than likely this mother
will be replaced by another employee. Then, the company may realize that maybe there is no
need for the position at all. In this case, the best option would be to reach out to the labor union
of that employer. The labor union can advocate for the employee to have her job and
demonstrate why the job is essential to the company. Typically, this labor union could fight for
the employee to have any job but for the pay to remain as it was prior to using leave. If for some
reason the labor union cannot meet these expectations then I would seek unemployment benefits.
Another unintended consequence of this policy change could be the increase in FMLA
time overlapping the period of short-term disability offered. For instance, an individual may
receive 2 years of FMLA time off but only receives disability for a year. In this situation the
employee has exhausted all sick, vacation, and disability. Therefore, the individual must choose
to return back to work or care for her loved one with no finances available to survive. Depending
on the severity of the illness, I would suggest the employee seek sitter hours through the
department of social services. Typically, if the patient has Medicaid a sitter may be provided
while the employee works. However, due to the increase in adult abuse most families would
rather care for their loved ones themselves.
Persuasive Presentation

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In order to implement this policy change, it is imperative that we reach out to labor
unions all across the nation. Labor unions are the only organizations that explicitly work for the
purpose of helping employees get what they want and keep their job at the same time. Local
labor unions would be the perfect audience to present this approach for policy change. The
victims suffering from this gap in the policy is the employees that dedicate years of hard work to
a company and yet they can only receive 3 months of unpaid leave. However, because labor
unions consist of employees that pay dues every month, the presentations would be tailored for
the officers of the labor union. In order to deliver this presentation effectively it is necessary that
the setting of this persuasive presentation be a conference room. In this conference room will be
pictures of clients that are caregivers that had to quit their jobs to care for a loved one. In
addition, many of these family members may have Medicaid but Medicaid will not pay family
members for caregiving. Allowing these individuals the opportunity to imagine how difficult it
may be for these individuals to care for their loved ones with no source of income would be very
important for the context of this presentation. Even though the loved one may have income, they
also have bills of their own. This conference room will be filled with labor union officers from
various employers like UFCW(United Food and Commercial Workers) at Smithfield Packing.
The members of the coalition will also be present to voice their opinions and concerns as well.
These labor unions have several values that are very important for the goals of this group.
The main goals of labor unions are to improve workplace policies, advocate for equal rights, fair
wages, safe working conditions and reliable benefits. These unions work together and stand up
for what employees deserve. The union is the voice that these individuals caring for their loved
ones need. This group is dedicated to the importance of workplace policies set in place for the
sake of the employee and family as well. A three month leave over a 12 month period is not

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realistic if the employee is caring for someone chronically ill. We have become aware of so
many situations at which the employee could easily use 12 weeks leave and still need more. At
the advantage of the audience, working in the adult services department I have been fortunate
enough to get an inside look of how stressful it is being a caretaker for a loved one and also a
provider for children and a husband. Balancing the two can become very overwhelming in
addition to the possibility of losing ones job at the conclusion of the three month period. Even
though I may have an advantage of experiencing the inside view and testimonies of clients, it is
also an advantage to the audience because it gives them an insight of the situation. But this plan
can also be a disadvantage to the audience because it requires much research, time, networking,
advocating, and money. This plan will require the labor union to contact representatives and
possibly meet with them in order to get this policy change for the employees. But the labor
unions will first need to fight for approval from the employers to avoid extra complications. It
may be necessary for some employees to protest because this is not an easy task to accomplish.
Immediately after the presentation, I would like the leaders of the labor unions to put
themselves in the situation and imagine how they would feel knowing that their time with a
loved one may not be enough for them to be there during their last moments of life. After they
understand the complexity of the issue it would be important to get input from the labor unions
as a whole. The more support that the leaders receive the better the policy change will be
portrayed. If these organizations show the dilemma of choosing a job over a chronically ill
family member the need for this change should be implemented very soon.

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References

Cancer Legal Resource Center (2013).Your right to take time off from work. Retrieved from:
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ght%20to%20Take%20Time%20Off%20Work.pdf
Doll, C. (2013). Curbing abuse of FMLA Leave. Retrieved from:
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East Carolina University. (2011). Trends and disparities in mortality in robeson county.
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GeorgeTown University Law Center. (2008). Extended time off overview. Retrieved from:
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North Carolina Health Wellness. (n.d.). Eight steps to policy change. Retrieved from:
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Santonocito, P. (2001). Accommodating cultural differences. Retrieved from:
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United States Census Bureau. (2015). Quick facts beta: Robeson county. Retrieved from:
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U. S. Department of Labor Wage and Division. (2012). Family and medical leave act.
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