Traditionally, employers were not required by law to provide employees with leave. However, through a variety of circumstances, this has changed.
Example - In the early 1990s, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requiring certain employers to provide leaves of absence. Courts also have interpreted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as requiring employers to provide leaves of absence in certain circumstances. Finally, some employers maintain policies that provide leave to employees.
Prior to 1993, employers were not required by federal law to grant employees medical leave. The only limitation was that if an employer had a leave policy, it could not discriminate against leaves for childbirth/pregnancy, which had to be treated the same as any other similar condition. The nondiscrimination principle still applies. However, the law now requires far more than that. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers to grant leave for a variety of purposes.
Many of the substantive requirements of the FMLA are contained not in the statute itself, but in regulations issued by the DOL. Effective January 16, 2009, the DOL issued revised regulations to address some of the problems that...
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