The U.S. Department of Labor marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act with events and updated resources to commemorate its impact on millions of American workers and their families.
The FMLA, passed in 1993, protects the rights of eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons and retain their group health insurance coverage as if no leave was taken, according to a Feb. 6 news release.
“The Family and Medical Leave Act changed the lives of millions of American workers and their families,” Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said, according to the release.
Thousands of workers have been helped by the department’s Wage and Hour Division after being denied leave, terminated unjustly or lost health care coverage during leave, recovering more than $63 million in back wages for affected workers. In 2022, the division investigated 780 FMLA complaints and recovered more than $870,000 in back wages for significant violations, the release reported.
Walsh said that while the FMLA has changed the lives of millions of American workers, more still needs to be done to ensure workers can exercise their rights to job-protected leave and are protected if an employer denies those rights, according to the release.
The department is hosting events in 2023 to engage stakeholders on issues of parental, caregiver and medical leave, the release reported. It will provide new and updated resources including a dedicated webpage, fact sheets, posters and presentations on the FMLA and its enforcement.
