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- Title
WHY FIFTY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTION CODIFIED IN THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993.
- Authors
Zehrt, Lynn Ridgeway
- Abstract
This article examines the small business exemption codified in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which excludes from coverage all workers employed with private businesses with less than fifty employees. This examination is timely as working Americans have faced unprecedented conflict this year between work, family, and health concerns that were created by the global pandemic of Covid-19. Although the struggle to achieve flexibility and balance with these priorities is certainly not new, the pandemic exposed our country's lack of comprehensive and effective leave legislation. By June of 2020, more than 45 million Americans had filed new unemployment compensation claims during the pandemic: workers that did not benefit from the FMLA's guarantees of job-protected leave and access to health care. Part I of this article makes a substantial contribution to current legal scholarship by examining the legislative history and political climate that persuaded Congress to adopt a significantly larger small business exception in the FMLA than in similar employment statutes. Part II explains how States currently approach family and medical leave in local legislation and reveals that these approaches are widely diverse, creating inequity in coverage and failing to provide a uniform alternative to federal legislation. Part III advocates that the coverage under the FMLA is inadequate and provides suggestions for expansion of its provisions to more Americans. As Congress considers ways to help America recover from the pandemic, as well as strengthen our families and our economy in ordinary life, one of its top priorities should be to revise the FMLA's small business exemption.
- Subjects
SMALL business; FAMILY &; Medical Leave Act of 1993 (U.S.); PRIVATE sector; PANDEMICS; HEALTH services accessibility; EQUALITY; EMPLOYMENT
- Publication
Albany Law Review, 2020, Vol 84, Issue 2, p275
- ISSN
0002-4678
- Publication type
Article