please help

Abstract

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a 1993 US labor law that requires employers to provide qualifying employees who need a break from work for some justifiable medical reasons with a job-protected unpaid leave. This paper helps find out the various problems encountered in the FMLA.

The paper principally explains why the FMLA policies should be changed with an aim to be more inclusive and meaningful.

Statement of the problem

To address these challenges, this paper calls for a change in the policies of the act to make it of benefit to both employees and employers. Existing researches haven’t gone further to address these important issues hence need for this research. The study raises a number of issues including the risk of losing one’s jobs by employees, the issue of bias by employers when approving a leave and the risk of financial constraints to emergency issues that require time out of job and which no plans would have been made for before.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to clearly raise concerns that have been ignored before by the act and which have a significant impact to both the employer and the employee.

Methodology

The methods used include surveying, interviewing resource persons and observational studies. Interviews were done on voluntary basis. Interviewees included employers and employees from different companies across the country. These were the preferred resource persons because they are directly impacted by FMLA and have clear information of how better it can be improved.

Research questions and hypothesis

The following are the research questions put under consideration in this study;

i. What are the problems posed by FMLA to employees

ii. What are the problems posed by FMLA to employers

iii. What are the possible solutions to the problems posed by FMLA

The following hypotheses were formulated;

i. Employees have to endure up to 12 weeks of no pay due to a break they cannot avoid.

Employees can also be denied leave by the employer since the decision to grant leave lies solely to the employer.

Employees suffer financial constraints especially when an emergency that they had not prepared for financially

ii. Employers could face low productivity especially when they deny leave to employees whom they thought they don’t deserve a leave

iii. The FMLA requires a thorough policy change to be all inclusive to all employees.

The federal government should be included in the implementation of the FMLA to ensure employers follow it.

References

Alan, B. (2014). Social Research Methods: Retail Research Report. New York: Oxford University Press.

Paul, L.D. & Jeanne, E.O. (2015). Practical Research: Planning and Design. New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.