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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. Existing evidence has documented that FMLA is associated with higher leave-taking and improved maternal and child health.

Due to strict eligibility requirements, access to FMLA is not universal. Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months (an average of 24 hours per week), and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles (USDOL, 2012). An estimate based on 2018 data suggests that only 56% of U.S. employees are eligible (Brown, Herr, Roy, and Klerman 2020).

In the paper researchers provide estimates of current eligibility for a variety of disadvantaged groups based on large-sample, nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) (Ruggles et al. 2021). Unlike other large-sample estimates, they account for all eligibility criteria in their estimates. They then simulate the impact of changes in the employee threshold and the working hours threshold on FMLA eligibility for these underserved communities.

The researchers find that those with low wage income have eligibility rates that are 20 percentage points (40%) lower than the aggregate rate. Those living in poverty have lower eligibility rates by 35 percentage points (65%). Rates for workers who are non-citizens, Hispanic, single parents, foreign born, rural residents, only high school educated, or women are lower by 1 to 10 percentage points.

When the researchers calculate eligibility under an alternative definition that has lower threshold for both firm size and working hours, they find rates of simulated eligibility that are 12 percentage points (24%) higher than current eligibility rates. Increases in eligibility rates are the highest among the most disadvantaged, with eligibility increasing as much as 59% among those living in poverty, and as much as 84% among non-citizens living in poverty.

Citation

Jones, K., Tasneem, F. (n.d.). FMLA Eligibility of Underserved Communities. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was part of CEO’s Summer Data Challenge on Equity and Underserved Communities, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.