[NOW Actions] Stop Bush from Undermining the Family and Medical Leave Act!

Support NOW's Work |	April 4, 2008	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions Support NOW's Work on Mothers and Caregivers!		Stop George Bush from Undermining the Family and Medical Leave Act. Act NOW before the April 11th Deadline Urgent action is needed! This is our last chance to flood the U.S. Department of Labor with opposition to their proposed changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act. Take Action NOW Since Bush took office in 2001, his administration has been threatening to water down the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). We are down to the wire on proposed regulatory changes that will do serious damage if enacted. The public comment period on the proposed regulations ends next Friday, April 11th. We must get as many strong comments as we can into the Department of Labor, demanding that they not weaken FMLA's critical protections. If carried out, these diminished policies would infringe on workers' privacy, increase the barriers and burdens on workers that deter them from taking leave, and relax requirements on employers, enabling those employers to more easily deny needed family and medical leave. These proposals unjustly burden the already difficult lives of those dealing with personal illness or caring for family members with illnesses and/or chronic health conditions. FMLA should be expanded, not restricted! YOUR COMMENTS are due to the Department of Labor by April 11th. Take Action NOW Tell the Department of Labor that their proposed regulations: Infringe upon the privacy of medical information. Under current law, the employer may not directly contact the worker's medical doctor, but these proposed changes will allow the employer, after seeking permission from the employee, to directly contact the employee's medical doctor to check on the diagnoses and worker's veracity. Add increased burdens to the workers as they attempt to use FMLA leave. It would increase the number of medical visits that the workers could be required to pay for either outright or through co-pays. It would also allow the employer to require additional medical certification forms, which the workers must purchase from their health care providers. Currently, workers are able to use their earned paid leave while on FMLA. These proposals would allow employers to limit the use of accrued paid leave. These changes add unneeded burdens to the already difficult lives of those that have personal health problems or need to care for a seriously sick family member. While workers will face new barriers to using family and medical leave, the requirements for employers will be relaxed. Workers will be required to provide their employer more information than previously required when requesting leave. Employers will have more freedom in deciding when they must allow workers to use FMLA leave. Some proposed changes would help workers and deserve our support. "Light duty," such as temporarily moving a person from factory floor work to administrative work, would no longer count toward the FMLA leave time. Under current FMLA regulations, workers who accept "light duty" assignments have the time that they work on light duty counted against their 12 weeks. This also covers employees that voluntarily perform a "light duty" assignment as well. More military family leave is including in the proposals. The National Defense Authorization Act of FY08 amended the FMLA to provide up to 26 workweeks to care for an injured or seriously ill family servicemember or to deal with urgent crises that might arise during a family servicemember's active duty. These positive changes, however do not outweigh the unacceptable proposed restrictions that would make it much more difficult for workers to take leave under the FMLA. Action Needed: ACT NOW Submit your comments before April 11th to the U.S. Department of Labor expressing your concerns regarding changes to FMLA at: At this site, you can copy and paste from our suggested comments below, add your own personal story or thoughts, and/or you can add a document such as a personal letter from you! See Note below if this link does not work (it is working now, but we've had this issue in the past). ALSO please take a minute to use our instant-action email system and send a message to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and to Richard Brennan, who are collecting the comments at the Wage and Hour Division. Although the email doesn't count as formal "comments" they will know we're paying attention. Background: After years of advocacy and a veto by George H.W. Bush, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993. This law stated that employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of twelve weeks of unpaid leave during any twelve-month period for: the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee, placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care, care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition. During this leave, the employee is guaranteed job security, but no pay. Since its inception, more than sixty million Americans have used FMLA leave. In June 2007, in an attempt to roll back (if not undo) the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Department of Labor published proposed updates to FMLA Regulations. On February 11, 2008 these proposed changes, which will make it more difficult for workers to use leave under the act, appeared in the Federal Register and a two month comment period began. Add your personal story or point of view to the comments. Resources: NOW's 2007 Alert on FMLA Regulations Department of Labor's Regulatory Proposal for FMLA Note: If the link to submit comments does not work go to www.regulations.gov and type in ESA-2008-0001-0001 under the blue Comments tab, hit go, then hit send a comment or submission under FMLA. Suggested Comments: I am writing to oppose your proposed regulations (RIN 1215-AB35), which will undermine the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and hurt workers and their families. The Department of Labor should be working on expanding FMLA, not restricting it. I am concerned that the proposed changes will make it more difficult for workers to take advantage of the unpaid leave afforded them by the FMLA and will add unnecessary restrictions to a law that has been working well for both employers and employees for 15 years. I do support the provisions dealing with "light duty" and military family leave, and ask that you preserve them and drop the proposals that make it easier for employers to deny leave and harder for employees to fulfill and balance their work and family obligations. Thank you for considering my concerns,
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