Opinion ID: 774361
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

Text: 2 The FMLA provides job security to employees who must be absent from work because of their own illnesses, to care for a family members who are ill, or to care for new babies. 29 U.S.C. §§ 2612. Congress recognized that, in an age when all the adults in many families are in the work force, employers' leave policies often do not permit employees reasonably to balance their family obligations and their work life. The result, Congress determined, is a heavy burden on families, employees, employers and the broader society. S. Rep. No. 103-3 at 4, 103d Cong., 2d Sess. (1993). As for employees' own serious health conditions, Congress found that employees' lack of job security during serious illnesses that required them to miss work is particularly devastating to single-parent families and to families which need two incomes to make ends meet. Id. at 11-12. As Congress concluded, it is unfair for an employee to be terminated when he or she is struck with a serious illness and is not capable of working. Id. at 11. In response to these problems, the Act entitles covered employees 2 to up to twelve weeks of leave each year for their own serious illnesses or to care for family members, and guarantees them reinstatement after exercising their leave rights. 29 U.S.C. §§§§ 2612(a)(1), 2614(a)(1). 3 3 The FMLA was the culmination of several years of negotiations in Congress to achieve a balance that reflected the needs of both employees and their employers. While recognizing employees' need for job security at the times when they most needed time off from work, Congress, in enacting the FMLA, also took employers' legitimate prerogatives into account: 4 It is the purpose of this Act - 5 (1) to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability and economic security of families, and to promote national interests in preserving family integrity; 6 (2) to entitle employees to take reasonable leave for medical reasons, for the birth or adoption of a child, and for the care of a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition; 7 (3) to accomplish the purposes described in paragraphs (1) and (2) in a manner that accommodates the legitimate interests of employers. 8 29 U.S.C. §§ 2601(b). The twelve-week limitation on employees' protected leave time--protected in the sense that the employee is entitled to reinstatement upon the end of the leave--as well as other provisions in the final Act, demonstrates that Congress wanted to ensure that employees' entitlement to leave and reinstatement did not unduly infringe on employers' needs to operate their businesses efficiently and profitably. 4 9 The regulations implementing the twelve-week leave provision reflect this concern for employers' administrative efficiency and convenience needs. See Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 60 Fed. Reg. 2180, 2199 (Jan. 6, 1995) (The choice of options was intended to give maximum flexibility for ease in administering FMLA in conjunction with other ongoing employer leave plans, given that some employers establish a `leave year' and because of state laws that may require a particular result.). Consistent with that concern, the regulations provide employers with a menu of choices for how to determine the twelve-month period during which an employee is entitled to twelve weeks of FMLA-protected leave: 10 An employer is permitted to choose any one of the following methods for determining the 12-month period in which the 12 weeks of leave entitlement occurs: 11 (1) The calendar year; 12 (2) Any fixed 12-month leave year, such as a fiscal year, a year required by State law, or a year starting on an employee's anniversary date; 13 (3) The 12-month period measured forward from the date an employee's first FMLA leave begins; or, 14 (4) A rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave. 15 29 C.F.R. §§ 825.200(b).This leave year  regulation is at the heart of Bachelder's appeal.