Parental Leave Act

All developed world governments have provisions for the support of parents with newborn children. Parental leave laws support new parents by offering job-protected leave and financial support during that leave. The right to take parental leave on a part-time basis can be another important aspect of family leave policy. New parents in the United States may access leave through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993.

The FMLA entitles eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for specified family and medical reasons. Amendments to the FMLA by the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA for fiscal year 2008, Public Law 110-181, expanded the FMLA to allow eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in the applicable 12-month period for any “qualifying exigency” arising out of the fact that a covered military member is on active duty, or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty, in support of a contingency operation. The NDAA also amended the FMLA to allow eligible employees to take up to 26 weeks of job-protected leave in a “single 12-month period” to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness.

FMLA applies to all public agencies, including state, local, and federal employers; local education agencies (schools); and private-sector employers who employed 50 or more employees in 20 or more work weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, including joint employers and successors of covered employers. To be eligible for FMLA benefits, an employee must work for a covered employer, have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months, have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and work at a location in the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.

While the 12 months of employment need not be consecutive, employment periods prior to a break in service of seven years or more need not be counted unless the break is occasioned by the employee's fulfillment of his or her National Guard or Reserve military obligation, as protected under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or a written agreement, including a collective bargaining agreement, exists concerning the employer's intention to rehire the employee after the break in service.

A covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

• For the birth and care of a newborn child of the employee
• For placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care
• To care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent with a serious health condition
• To take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition
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• For qualifying exigencies arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty or called to active duty status as a member of the National Guard or Reserves in support of a contingency operation

A covered employer must also grant an eligible employee who is a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a current member of the armed forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, with a serious injury or illness up to a total of 26 work weeks of unpaid leave during a “single 12-month period” to care for the service member.

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