Family and Medical Leave Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Family and Medical Leave Act - Research Paper Example A1. Addressing the Question of whether it matters that a parent literally had nothing to do with a biological child in order for the child to take advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for that parent FMLA provides that every eligible employee is entitled to take up to 12 weeks of work leave to take care of a parent suffering from a medical condition. This leave is usually unpaid and the employee’s job is protected during this period1. A parent is defined by the FMLA as a foster, step, biological or adoptive parent, including any individual who represented loco parentis to the employee while he or she was a child2. Loco parentis, means where an individual takes the responsibility of caring for the child with which he has no legal or biological connection. However, the FMLA does not cover leave for parents- in- law, whereas the military has its own provisions as pertains to the definition of a family3. With reference to the case scenario illustrated, the employe e qualifies to take a FMLA leave to take care of his or her biological parent even if the parent did not take care of him as a child (United States Department of Labor, 2010). However, in the cases of a loco parentis the FMLA outlines other individuals whom an employee is allowed by law to go and see in case of illness or accident. These are individuals who acted as proxy for the child in the absentia of his parents and, thus, qualify to be their parents more than their biological parents. In this case scenario, if the loco parentis and the biological parent to the employee happen to be ill, the law provides for the cover of loco parentis unlike the unavailable parent because this is the person who took care of the employee. However, the employee needs to provide documented evidence that ascertains that the loco parentis actually took care of him or her during childhood (United States Department of Labor, 2010). A2. A Discussion as to Whether the size of the business can have any ef fect on whether employee is eligible for family leave under the FMLA A company that has 50 or more employees is required by the FMLA regulations whether the company is non- profit or profit making; private or public. This is since small businesses have been documented to have employees who are less than 50 during a specific period of time. However, in case the company has had 50 employees in the past 20 weeks prior to the current slope in employee number, FMLA requires that the company complies with the FMLA regulation. In case the company has not had 50 employees, the 20 week factor of having a continuous 50 employee is the consideration factor (United States Department of Labor, 2001). Consequently, whether a company has full time or part time workers determines the application of the FMLA. A company that has part time workers is required by the FMLA to provide 12 weeks unpaid leave for an employee either for medical or family reasons on condition that the employee has worked for at least 1250 hours. This excludes time off and the part time employee needs to have worked for more than 12 months to qualify for this recommendation. Though the leave of part time workers is unpaid, FMLA expects that the company will continue providing health care benefits for the employee on leave, and consequently restore him or her to his original position once their leave is over (United States De