For the first time since it began collecting the data in 1976, the Census Bureau reports a drop in the percentage of mothers with infant children joining the workforce.
Just as the country as a whole has grown complacent about HIV and AIDS, employers have gotten slipshod about ensuring fair employment for the afflicted, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Family leave is like 911, you don't use it unless you truly need it, but it's critically important when you do," said Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), author of The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
An increasing number of employees are faced not only with the responsibility
of caring for their children, but also with involvement in care decisions and
caregiving responsibilities for a parent or another elderly relative.
From FMLA Policy, Practice & Legal Update
Many of our readers tell us that one of the most confusing and troublesome areas of FMLA leave administration is the coordination of paid leave policies with FMLA requirements. And no wonder, since the statute and regulations are not clear on this issue, and case law is in conflict. Yet, despite the less than crystal-clear guidance available to employers, making an effort to understand and comply with the rules on paid/unpaid leave coordination is critical to effective FMLA administration. Failing to do so may have the unfortunate and disruptive result of allowing employees to exhaust all their paid leave for the year and still claim eligibility for additional time off under FMLA.
One often-debated FMLA issue concerns proper notification. The DOL requires employers to notify workers in advance when an absence from work is being designated as FMLA leave.
You know it if you are a member of the "Sandwich Generation." You feel the double pressure of raising children and taking care of your elderly parents,and you're not alone.
Clinton proposal sets off brouhaha
Roughly 650,000 people a year take some type of parental leave each year under the FMLA law of 1993. And for most of these new parents, it is an unpaid leave. A huge brouhaha has erupted over a plan by President Clinton, which would authorize the states to use their unemployment funds to pay these workers during the parental leave.
