Family And Medical

Workers used to worry that if they took time off for family or medical reasons, they would get fired. Now a federal law guarantees that you can be out for up to 12 weeks per year in certain cases and still have a job. Unfortunately, it isn't always that easy.Many businesses don't like the Family and Medical Leave Act. While it's illegal for them to punish you for taking leave, companies have found legal ways to, in effect, do just that.In a nutshell, the law protects most people who work for a company with 50 or more employees and have clocked at least 1,250 hours during the past year.

THE Family and Medical Leave Act, which may have been vetoed by President Bush by the time you read this, would increase discrimination against women by employers.The legislation would force companies with 50 or more employees to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to female employees for having a child, and to male or female employees to care for a sick child, spouse or parent.Businesses would have to retain the employee's health-care benefits over that period and guarantee that he or she would be able to come back to the same or a comparable job at the end of 12 weeks.

WASHINGTON -- In its latest report card on Congress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives failing marks to most Maryland legislators.But some lawmakers say it's the chamber's rating system that needs improvement, not their voting records.The chamber examined how members voted in 1990 on selected issues affecting business. Expressed in percentages, the scores reflect how often lawmakers voted for the chamber's position.Maryland House members scored from 21 to 74, with Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-7th, at the bottom and Rep. Helen D. Bentley, R-2nd, at the top. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, D-Md.

BALTIMORE -- Our unemployment insurance system needs to be reformed. Although most employers pay a payroll tax on all their workers for the purpose, only 38 percent of the unemployed get benefits. Furthermore, the system is subject to abuse, and economists agree that the benefits encourage the jobless to stay unemployed longer. But rather than reform the unemployment insurance system to fix these problems, the Clinton administration wants to put it in the family leave business. The president wants to let parents of newborn or newly adopted children draw unemployment insurance benefits while they're on leave.

Boston -- Some things take longer than others. This time, it took eight years to get 12 weeks.After all the seasons of wrangling and rewriting, voting and vetoing, the Family and Medical Leave Act is finally, actually and belatedly going to become law. You may share this news with any children conceived the same year as this bill -- 1985 -- before they head off to their third-grade class.American workers may be about the last in the industrialized world to get family leave, but we're going to get it. Or at least many of us are.The bill mandates up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to care for a newborn or adopted child, or a critically ill family member . . . if.If they work for companies with 50 or more employees.

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- Touching on an anxiety that troubles many working parents -- the difficulty of raising children while also having a fulfilling work life -- former Sen. Bill Bradley proposed yesterday that federal dollars and streamlined state programs be used to ease the strain.Lamenting that "the global economy just doesn't care about the 6: 30 dinner hour," the Democratic presidential hopeful suggested ways that his administration would improve the lives of working parents.He proposed allocating $2.6 billion for various programs, including money to improve child care, an expansion of the popular Family and Medical Leave Act to cover more businesses and provide longer leaves, and $400 million more a year for community colleges.

WASHINGTON - Forcefully rejecting stereotypes about the roles of men and women as caregivers, the Supreme Court refused yesterday to exempt states from a federal law that authorizes employees to sue for back pay if they are denied a leave of absence to care for a sick family member. In an opinion by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the court turned away arguments by Nevada officials that states were immune from lawsuits by employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The court said that the law was passed to address historic gender bias in granting leave for family emergencies and that Congress' strong interest in addressing sex discrimination trumps any states' rights concerns.

A full family leave is too costly for manyThe family leave law that takes effect this summer is a great idea, many workers and managers say. But few are likely to take full advantage of the offer of a 12-week unpaid leave of absence for a family emergency.Cindy Spearman, employment recruiter for the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel, likes the new law because it gives workers like her an opportunity to take some time off during crises. "Life is not all rosy," she said.But she probably won't take full advantage of the law because she can't afford to go three months without a paycheck.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act. The 1993 act is a federal law requiring employers to provide employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons, including pregnancy. On this anniversary, we should reflect on how the U.S. is unacceptably lagging behind on parental leave and on what we should do to overcome this gap. Researchers at McGill University's Institute for Health and Social Policy compared policies across the globe and found that among the 173 countries studied, five did not offer any paid parental leave.

After drawing national attention for his attempt to muzzle a football player who supported gay rights, a Maryland delegate walked back his position Sunday and said Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo should be allowed to speak out in favor of same-sex marriage. "Upon reflection, he has his First Amendment rights," Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, said in a telephone interview. "And I have my First Amendment rights. … Each of us has the right to speak our opinions.