Don’t Gut Family and Medical Leave Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscmeblog.org/2008/04/11/don%e2%80%99t-gut-family-and-medical-leave-act/

April 11th, 2008

The AFL-CIO sent out this press release earlier today. Learn more about the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on the AFSCME website.

Press release: http://aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr04112008.cfm

FMLA info: http://www.afscme.org/publications/1199.cfm

(Washington, April 11) The AFL-CIO today called on the Bush Administration to drop its proposed changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act that would make it more difficult for workers to get the time off they need to care for themselves or their loved ones in emergencies. The changes were proposed by the Bush Administration in February; an open comment period on the changes ends today. The Department of Labor will review comments and decide on final regulations.

“The Department now proposes to make dozens of changes to the regulations, the vast majority of which impose tighter controls on the taking of FMLA leave in response to the urging of the business community. Workers gain very little under this proposal,” the AFL-CIO wrote in comments submitted to the Administration.

“The Family and Medical Leave Act is working. The Department of Labor’s own research says so,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, referencing a Department of Labor (DOL) study that found workers taking FMLA had little effect on business growth, productivity and profitability. “These proposed regulations are nothing more than a goodbye gift from the Bush Administration to the business interests who have been trying to gut the Family and Medical Leave Act since it was enacted 15 years ago and have found an eager partner in Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.”

One of the changes of concern would limit workers’ ability to take earned paid leave while on FMLA. This would drastically reduce the effectiveness of the law, the AFL-CIO noted. “DOL’s own data shows that the availability of paid leave not only affects whether employees take FMLA leave, but is the single most important determinant of whether someone who needs leave actually takes it.”

Under current law, an employer who wants information from a health care provider about an employee’s reason for taking FMLA must both get permission from the worker to seek the information and have a medical professional talk directly to the worker’s health care provider. The proposed rules would let virtually any employer representative contact a worker’s health care provider and, in some circumstances, do so without the worker’s permission.

FULL story at link.

[orleans]

1. ! n/t

[sweetpotato]

2. I sure do appreciate all this administration has done for FAMILY values

I guess taking time off work to sit with my elderly parents in the hospital as dad died was a stupid idea. I SHOULD have stayed at work! I suppose I'm a slacker, but I needed to be there.

When can I just LIVE at my job?