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Content Last Revised: 11/17/2008 |
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Code of Federal Regulations Pertaining to ESA |
| Labor |
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| Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor |
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| The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 |
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| Coverage Under the Family and Medical Leave Act |
29 CFR 825.101 - Purpose of the Act.
- Section Number: 825.101
- Section Name: Purpose of the Act.
(a) FMLA is intended to allow employees to balance their work and
family life by taking reasonable unpaid leave for medical reasons, for
the birth or adoption of a child, for the care of a child, spouse, or
parent who has a serious health condition, for the care of a covered
servicemember with a serious injury or illness, or because of a
qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse,
son, daughter, or parent is on active duty or call to active duty
status in support of a contingency operation. The Act is intended to
balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to
promote the stability and economic security of families, and to promote
national interests in preserving family integrity. It was intended that
the Act accomplish these purposes in a manner that accommodates the
legitimate interests of employers, and in a manner consistent with the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in minimizing the
potential for employment discrimination on the basis of sex, while
promoting equal employment opportunity for men and women.
(b) The FMLA was predicated on two fundamental concerns--the needs
of the American workforce, and the development of high-performance
organizations. Increasingly, America's children and elderly are
dependent upon family members who must spend long hours at work. When a
family emergency arises, requiring workers to attend to seriously-ill
children or parents, or to newly-born or adopted infants, or even to
their own serious illness, workers need reassurance that they will
not be asked to choose between continuing their employment, and
meeting their personal and family obligations or tending to vital
needs at home.
(c) The FMLA is both intended and expected to benefit employers as
well as their employees. A direct correlation exists between stability
in the family and productivity in the workplace. FMLA will encourage
the development of high-performance organizations. When workers can
count on durable links to their workplace they are able to make their
own full commitments to their jobs. The record of hearings on family
and medical leave indicate the powerful productive advantages of stable
workplace relationships, and the comparatively small costs of
guaranteeing that those relationships will not be dissolved while
workers attend to pressing family health obligations or their own
serious illness.
[73 FR 68074, Nov. 17, 2008]
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