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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) enables employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. However, while FMLA has increased leave-taking among eligible workers, overall effects have been modest, perhaps because much of the workforce is ineligible for FMLA, and many who are eligible are unaware of the law’s benefits and eligibility requirements.

A little over half of U.S. workers – an estimated 56% to 60% – are covered by FMLA, meaning they both work for an employer covered by its provisions and meet the law’s employee eligibility requirements. Awareness of the FMLA’s benefits has increased slowly since the law’s passage in 1993, with 70.9% of workers at FMLA-covered worksites and 53.1% of workers at non-covered worksites reporting in 2012 that they were aware of the law’s benefits. The brief examines the effects of the awareness of FMLA eligibility on leave usage for FMLA-qualifying reasons. Using data from the 2012 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) Employee Survey, the analysis examined the effect of FMLA eligibility and awareness on an outcome variable of whether a worker took leave for an FMLA-qualifying reasons.

Key Takeaways

Among workers who were eligible and aware of FMLA the probability of taking leave was 55.1%, compared to the probability of workers that were FMLA-eligible but unaware of the law, who took leave at a rate of 45.3%.

• The majority of U.S. workers who are both eligible and aware learn about the FMLA from their employers or a human resource office (56.6%).
• Workers in seven sub-populations were found to be significantly less likely to be aware of the FMLA when compared to their peers.

Citation

IMPAQ International. (2017). The Effects of FMLA Eligibility and Awareness on Family Leave-Taking: Issue Brief—Worker Leave Analysis and Simulation Series. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.