Employer Responsibilities in Regard to Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) (Research Paper Sample)

Employer Responsibilities in Regard to FMLA
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Family and Medical Leave Act require that employers offer unpaid leave and job protection to employees for both family and medical reasons. The act was meant to balance workplace demands with family needs. Some of the qualified family and medical reasons are family illness or personal illness, pregnancy, family military leave and adoption among others. Employers are required to give up to twelve work weeks unpaid leave every 12 month where the employee can then attend to serious health conditions of their child, parent, spouse or pregnancy. However, an employee must have worked for at least 12 months and also worked for at least 1250 hours within the last 12 months (J.J. Keller & Associates, 2011). In addition, the employer has to have employed at least 50 employees within 75 miles. Sometimes the employees may be required to provide proof the reason to take the leave in order to weigh whether it is a sensitive issue.
The employer should provide health benefits to the employees until the period of leave entitled by FMLA ends or if the employee informs the employer that he will not be returning to work at the end of the leave period (J.J. Keller & Associates, 2011). Like other labor laws, FMLA requires that employers provide notices explaining and outlining procedures for making a claim in case an employee feels that FMLA rights have been violated. Such a notice should define a serious health condition and the emplo...