Balancing Work and Family:

46% of the total U.S. labor force are women.

64% of mothers with children under age 6 were working or looking for work in March 1998.76% of all single parent families are headed by women.

1999 Labor Force Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau

64% of Americans said that it is getting harder to balance work and family.

Lake, Sosin, Perry & Associates, Inc. Family Matters: A National Survey of  Women and Men, 1998 (conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families)

72% of men and 63% of women say that they will probably need to take family or medical leave during the next ten years.

Family Leave Commission, A Workable Balance: Report to Congress on Family and Medical Leave Policies, 1996

68% of men and 64% of women expect to be responsible for an elder relative.

Family Leave Commission, A Workable Balance: Report to Congress on Family and Medical Leave Policies, 1996

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA):

FMLA, enacted in 1993, provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees who need leave for their own serious health conditions, to care for children, spouses, or parents with serious health conditions, or to care for newborns, newly adopted or foster children.FMLA applies to public and private employers who employ 50 people over more.FMLA applies to employees who have have worked for their employer for one year and at least 1,250 hours during the previous year. The majority of leave-takers report that taking leave had positive effects on their ability to care for family members (78.7%), their own or family members’ emotional well-being (70%), and their own or family members’ physical heath (63%). 

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

84% of employers find that providing family or medical leave causes benefits such as positive returns on investments in leave programs, offsetting the costs.

Families and Work Institute’s 1998 Business Work-Life Study by Ellen Galinsky and James T. Bond, 1998 (Families and Work Institute)

Two-thirds of employees believed that leave for family and medical reasons was not an unfair burden on co-workers.

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

59% of covered employees had heard about FMLA.

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

Two-thirds of covered employers report that, overall, complying with FMLA was very or somewhat easy.

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

Large majorities of both women and men support expanding FMLA (for domestic violence related leaves, teacher and doctor appointments and for part-time workers).

Lake, Sosin, Perry & Associates, Inc. Family Matters: A National Survey of Women and Men, 1998 (conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families)

Text of FMLA

Barriers to Leave for Low-Income Families:

78% of employees noted a main reason for not taking leave when needed was being unable to afford unpaid leave.

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

76% of poor working adults lacked paid sick leave at least some time over seven years (1990-1996), including 45% who lacked paid sick leave for all seven years.

Heymann, Jody, M.D., Ph.D., The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can be Done About it? (Basic Books 2000)

63% of poor working adults lacked paid vacation time for part or all of seven years, including 28% who never had it. 

Heymann, Jody, M.D., Ph.D., The Widening Gap: Why America’s Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can be Done About it? (Basic Books 2000)

One in ten FMLA users is forced onto public assistance while on leave.

Lake, Sosin, Perry & Associates, Inc. Family Matters: A National Survey of Women and Men, 1998 (conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families)

Paid Family and Medical Leave:

62.5% of women leave-takers received some pay (compared to 70% of men), and less than 50% of leave-takers who were young (age 18 to 24), were never married, had less than a high school education, or had a household income of less than $20,000 received any pay during their leave.

Balancing the Needs of Families and Employers: The Family and Medical Leave Surveys, 2000 Update (U.S. Department of Labor)

89% of parents of young children and 84% of all adults support expanding disability or unemployment insurance as a vehicle for paid family leave. 

What Grown-Ups Understand About Child Development: A National Benchmark Survey, conducted for Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, Civitasm and the Brio Corporation by DYG, Inc., October 2000

Some states have proposed expanding existing unemployment insurance or temporary disability insurance programs to provide partial wage replacement for employees on family and medical leave.