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Family and Medical Leave Act
APWU
Members
Lead
The Charge
in Defense of FMLA
(04/14/08) APWU members rose to an important challenge in recent weeks: Postal workers submitted more than half of the postings to a Department of Labor Web site that features comments regarding proposed revisions to the Family & Medical Leave Act that would weaken the law. [read more]
Union Files Objections
To
Proposed New FMLA Regulations
(04/11/08) The APWU has filed formal objections to new Family and Medical Leave Act regulations proposed by Bush Administration Labor Department officials on Feb. 11. “We view with dismay,” the union wrote, “the proposal by the Department of Labor to revise FMLA Regulations in ways that would weaken and diminish the protections of the law.” [Click here to read the comments APWU submitted to the Federal Register. - PDF]
Union
Members Urged
To Help Save FMLA Protections
Deadline for Objecting to New Rules is April
11
(04/08/08) Time is running out for union members to voice objections to new regulations proposed by the Department of Labor that would undermine employees’ medical privacy protections and make it more difficult for workers to exercise their rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). [read more]
FMLA:
Here We Go Again
Bush Keeps Trying to Chip Away at Workers’ Rights
(03/28/08) The headlines last July seemed to say it all: “Labor Department Study Affirms That FMLA Is Working as Intended.” So union activists were dismayed when seven months later the Department of Labor proposed sweeping new regulations for the FMLA. “Business as usual, that’s the only reasonable explanation,” said APWU Legislative Department Director Myke Reid of the more-recent news stories. “It seems like corporate America just won’t give up in its quest to strip workers of their rights." [read more]
Union Activists Urged
To Fight Proposals to Gut FMLA
(03/06/08) APWU President William Burrus has issued a call to action, asking the union’s officers and activists to fight proposed new regulations that would weaken the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. “The FMLA is the one of the most important pro-worker, pro-family laws in recent memory,” Burrus said. “It has worked well for both employers and employees. We must derail any attempt to dilute its effectiveness.” [read more]
Proposed FMLA Regulations Threaten Medical Privacy, Other Protections
(02/21/08) Shortly after agreeing to expand leave for military families, the Bush administration proposed new regulations that would weaken employees’ medical privacy protections and make it more difficult for workers to use leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). [read more]
New Law Enhances FMLA Leave for Military Families
(02/21/08) Recent amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act will allow postal workers and others covered by the law to take up to 26 weeks of leave to help eligible family members recover from a military service-related injury or illness. [read more]
Protecting, Preserving the FMLA
(09/01/07) One of the APWU’s legislative priorities has been to protect the Family and Medical Leave Act. In recent years, employers have been pressuring Congress, alleging that the FMLA was not working, that it was forcing them to make unreasonable accommodations, and that it was exposing them to increased costs.
One way employers sought relief was by pushing for the term “serious condition” to be redefined to apply only to life-threatening conditions. They also sought to make it more difficult for employees to receive approval for intermittent FMLA absences through the establishment of requirements that leave be used in a minimum of eight-hour increments and that documentation be specific to the point that the privacy rights of employees would be compromised. [read more]
Labor Department Study Affirms
That FMLA ‘Is Working as Intended’
Unions Beat Back Effort to Weaken Law
(07/02/07) A Department of Labor study released June 27 confirms what most Americans already know, that “family and medical leave is good for workers and their families, is in the public interest, and is good workplace policy.”... “This conclusion is a victory for the labor movement,” said Legislative Director Myke Reid. “The DOL’s request for information caused concern among unions because the agency, which implements workplace rules for the FMLA, has used its regulatory authority in the past to weaken workers’ rights.” [read more]
Department of Labor Ponders FMLA Reform
(01/01/07) A new battle may be brewing over the Family and Medical Leave Act, with employers using a recent Labor Department information-request to try to weaken the 1993 law. After a notice seeking public comment appeared in the December 2006 Federal Register, numerous employers seized the opportunity to try to gain more control and more restrictions on a worker’s right to take intermediate leave. The typical claim is that the current process is burdensome because employees can request leave in the smallest increments allowed by their payroll system. [read more]
