FMLA Research Questions - diversitydatakids

1 Research Questions on fmla Effectiveness The Family and Medical Leave Act was passed in 1993 to provide job-protected unpaid leave to eligible workers who need time off from work to care for a new child, a seriously ill family member, or their own serious illness. The Act explicitly includes goals to improve workers' leave-taking, employment stability and security, and work-family balance. As a result, this document presents studies which have examined outcomes related to these primary goals. In addition, due to the fmla 's close relationship with family health, we include studies that examine its effects on maternal and child health outcomes.

2 Notably, no randomized controlled trial of the effects of the fmla has been conducted to date. Instead, rigorous non-experimental studies take advantage of differences in state-level policies to compare the effects of the fmla on workers in states that did not have preexisting leave policies (treatment) to workers in states that did have preexisting leave policies (comparison). See the fmla Methods & Measures Table for more information. We also examine the 2012 Worksite and Employee Surveys (the largest study of fmla implementation), since understanding how employers and employees experience the policy is important to interpret evidence on its effectiveness.

3 Below are the Research Questions asked by the implementation study and the rigorous non-experimental studies of fmla impacts included in this review. Source Research Questions Klerman, et al. With the passage of the fmla in 1993, Congress established the Commission on Leave to conduct a comprehensive study of the potential (2012). costs, benefits, and other impacts on employers and employees, differences in impacts by business type and size, and other aspects of Department of 2. existing family and medical leave policies in the Recognizing a lack of data needed to examine many of these issues, in 1995 the Labor 2012.

4 Commission sponsored two new surveys of the fmla , an Employer Survey and an Employee Survey. The main Research Questions of these Worksite and 3. Employee Surveys 1 surveys were: How are employer policies changing as a result of the fmla ? What are the relative costs and benefits to employers of providing family and medical leave? How are employees faring under the fmla ? fmla Research Questions Page 1 of 6. Klerman, et al. What is the nature of leave-taking for employees in both fmla -covered and non- fmla -covered firms?

5 (2012), (con't). In 2000 and 2012, the Department of Labor (DOL) commissioned new employer and employee surveys to collect updated information on employee leave usage, employees' family and medical leave needs, and the impact of the fmla on businesses. The 2000 surveys were 4. designed to be as comparable as possible to the 1995 surveys, and the 2012 surveys were designed to be as comparable as possible to the 2000 survey, with some changes due to new regulations and differences in policy contexts. Thus, the most recent surveys in 2012 were conducted to answer generally the same Research Questions as the 1995 surveys, and collected data on the following topics: fmla coverage and eligibility among employees.

6 Employees' leave taking practices (prevalence, duration, reason, etc.). Implementation of the fmla before, during and after taking leave. Employees who needed but did not take leave. Worksites' fmla and other leave policies. Worksite perceptions of fmla impacts, costs and benefits. Waldfogel, J. After the passage of the fmla , the law was criticized as doing little to help women without prior job-protected leave because it covered (1999). The impact less than half of private-sector workers and those who were covered were more likely to have been already covered by another leave of the Family and policy.

7 A second concern was that the law would impose additional costs on employers that could potentially be passed on to the most 5. Medical Leave Act vulnerable workers. For example, because women are more likely to take leave than men ( maternity or caregiving leave), employers may pass on leave-related costs to female employees through reduced hiring or lower wages. To investigate the validity of these claims, this study examined four Research Questions : question 1: Did leave coverage increase as a result of the fmla ?

8 The study investigates whether employer-offered maternity and paternity leave coverage increased after fmla was passed. It also examines whether fmla -covered firms changed their leave policies after the passage of the fmla . Variation in trends is examined by firm size (small, medium, large). fmla Research Questions Page 2 of 6. Waldfogel, J. question 2: Did leave utilization increase as a result of the fmla ? (1999), (con't). The study investigates whether the fmla is associated with increased leave-taking among full-time employed mothers (estimated to be fmla -eligible).

9 It is expected that increases in leave-taking among estimated fmla -eligible mothers should be larger in states that did not have any state leave laws before the fmla . The study also examines variation by mothers' firm size as it is expected that increases will be smaller for women who work in large firms, which were more likely to already offer employer-provided family or maternity leave. question 3: Did the fmla have an effect on women's employment? There are competing theories as to whether the fmla would have positive, negative, or null impacts of women's employment.

10 If the fmla makes women more likely to take time off and return to work (rather than leave work altogether), then it would have a positive impact on employment. However, if employers pass on the costs of mandated fmla benefits to employees through reduced hiring or wages, the fmla could have negative employment effects. It is also possible that these two effects could offset each other, leading to null impacts. question 4: Did the fmla have an effect on women's wages? Similar to employment, there are competing theories as to whether the fmla would have positive, negative, or null impacts of women's wages.