The Legal Clauses of Family and Medical Leave Act, Research Paper Example

Released and approved in 1993, the former President Bill Clinton’s administration imposed this law in an aim of protecting family-related provisions that are welcomed by the working industry. Relatively, this law indicates the responsibility of employers to respond to the needs of their employees for protected and unpaid leave during specific circumstances that involve family matters. Such family matters may include individual or family-member illnesses, military leave of family members of the employees, pregnancy issues, completing adoption procedures or foster care application. Most of these leave-schedules last from a day to a month or so depending on the condition of the employee and the situation that he or she is supposed to manage. Imposed and considered by the Wage and Hour Division under the United States Department of Labor, this law is a mandatory command to business owners who are aiming to employ members of the society from all walks of life. Most likely though, only business owners employing 50 people and above are obliged to comply with this particular law. To qualify for the leave, the employee applying for it should have already worked for the employer for at least 12 months and have spend 1,250 hours of work for the last 12 months prior to the request passed on. When approved, the employees are assured that their jobs are protected even though they do undergo the leave. Relatively, this means that they still have a job to return to after they are done dealing with the family issues at hand.

Considerably, the main objective of this law to provide relative protection to employees especially during a time of family emergency has undergone several criticisms along the way. Nevertheless, its application has been proven effective in taking good care of the integrity of the relationship between employee-employer based on the trust and loyalty that both parties hold towards each other. When applied with full care and understanding, business operators would best benefit from the law than actually be burdened by it as some others are experiencing. Having a cooperative understanding between employees and employers even before hand of creating a work contract that binds both parties lessen the commotion that improper implication of the law might bring.