?Describe the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Under what circumstances may an employee take a leave? What are the remedies for violations of the FMLA?

Question

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Answer 1

In 1993, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to protect employees who need time off work for family or medical reasons. The FMLA requires employers who have fifty or more employees to provide employees with up to twelve weeks of family or medical leave during any twelve-month period. During the employee's leave, the employer must continue the worker's health-care coverage and guarantee employment in the same position or a comparable position when the employee returns to work.An important exception to the FMLA allows the employer to avoid reinstatement of a key employee-defined as an employee whose pay falls within the top 10 percent of the firm's workforce. Additionally, the act does not apply to employees who have worked less than one year or less than twenty-five hours a week during the previous twelve months.Generally, an employee may take family leave when he or she wishes to care for a new born baby, a newly adopted child, or a foster child just placed in the employee's care. An employee may take medical leave when the employee or the employee's spouse, child, or parent has a "serious health condition" requiring care. For most absences, the employee must demonstrate that the health condition requires continued treatment by a health-care provider and includes a period of incapacity of more than three days. Employees suffering from certain chronic health conditions, such as asthma and diabetes, as well as employees who are pregnant, may take FMLA leave for their own in capacities that require absences of less than three days.?Remedies for violations of the FMLA include:•Damages for unpaid wages (or salary), lost benefits, denied compensation, and actual monetary losses (such as the cost of providing for care) up to an amount equivalent to the employee's wages for twelveweeks•Job reinstatement•PromotionThe successful plaintiff is entitled to court costs, attorneys' fees, and-in cases involving bad faith on the part of the employer-double damages. Supervisors may also be subject to personal liability, as employers, for violations of the act.