- Posted April 19, 2014 by
This iReport is part of an assignment:
Impact Your World
Change the Family medical Leave Act
The Family Medical Leave Act, established in 1993, gave protection to children, parents and spouses that should a medical situation arise, that a working caretaker could have a guaranteed 12 weeks off to deal with that situation, without the fear of losing their jobs.
Since its inception, however, our definition of family and caretaker has expanded. With the vast variety of families in today's society come a vast variety of caretakers. The military version of the FMLA has met this challenge by adding the words next of kin, after parent, child and spouse. These three simple words guarantee that whoever the sole caretaker is, they have a right to take leave to care for a loved one.
Unfortunately our civilian version has not kept up with the military version. If a person has family medical responsibilities in the public or private sector and that family member is not a parent, a child or a spouse, there is no protection. Thus potentially leaving a sibling, nephew, step child or a half-sibling to have to make a decision between doing the right thing or keeping their job.
Which is why I have started a petition at Change.org, http://www.change.org/petitions/u-s-congress-change-the-family-medical-leave-act
It proposes a change to the Family Medical Leave Act to reflect the changing definition of family today. And to guarantee that all of our citizens have a right to have a significant other person with them during medically trying times.