A Step in the Right Direction: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 at 20

After twenty years, it’s time to expand the FMLA’s protections to facilitate broader access to affordable leave in times of need. The current system has proved helpful in that it has established a norm that employees should not risk job loss due to leave necessitated by short-term health crises or the new obligations of parenting. It has also proven that the wildly exaggerated fears about the burden on employers of the cost of accommodating such leave, which drove much of the eight-year debate before the FMLA finally passed, were just that—wildly exaggerated. Employers report that they can administer FMLA leave with little cost or trouble. It’s now time to take the next step