Arkansas employers have become embroiled in a hotly debated issue regarding FMLA leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act, which was signed into law in 1992, allows workers to take unpaid time off of work for various personal or medical reasons. Workers may take time off because of their own serious medical condition, or to care for an immediate family member who is ill.

What employers throughout the United States are concerned about is the fact that workers are allowed to take leave that is intermittent and unscheduled. This fact was noted as a concern of some significance by the Department of Labor in its recent 182-page report.

A popular argument that has been set forth by employers is that they do not believe that FMLA leave was meant to be used in such a way. They are arguing so loudly, in fact, that it is entirely possible that there will be new legislation enacted some time in the future.

The Family and Medical Leave Act allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of leave each year. The leave is not paid, but workers jobs are protected during the time that they are gone. For a worker to be able, by law, to take FMLA leave, he or she must work at a place that has at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.

Any employees of public agencies, as well as elementary and secondary schools, are also eligible to receive FMLA leave, regardless of how many other employees might work there.

For employers that must offer FMLA leave to their employees, those employees may take leave in a sporadic or unscheduled manner. For instance, suppose that Jeremy is undergoing chemotherapy. He may only be physically up to working five hours per day, rather than his usual shift of eight hours. He would be allowed to use FMLA for the three hours per day that he missed. He could use this time until he had completely run through his entire allotment of 12 weeks during the course of a 12-month period of time.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Labor & Employment Laws, Maternity Leave Laws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.