133 Comments

January 10, 2007 at 4:47 pm by Anonymous

It has been brought to my attention that The Dept. of Labor is reviewing the Family and Medical Leave Act. I am writing in full support of the act.

I am very lucky in that my organization allowed me to take medical leave even though it by law does not have to (it has less than 50 employees). I went on bedrest May 9, 2005…a month and a half prior to my due date because of complications in my pregnancy. I was fortunate to have a sick leave policy that allowed me to get paid for some of that initial leave. I then had an additional 8 weeks of leave (paid thru California Family Leave insurance) following my unplanned, emergency c-section.

Without this leave I would have been forced to compromise the health of myself and my baby because I would not have been able to risk losing my job. Having the 8 weeks of psotpartum leave also enabled me to fully develop a successful breastfeeding relationship with my daughter in addition to healing from the c-section. Breastmilk helped prevent my daughter from the acquiring or worsening of colds and flu which therefore allowed me to miss fewer days of work.

My husband was also able to take 3 weeks off from his job (and could have taken more) after I delivered which helped me to cope with post-partum depression and healing from my c-section fully.

My mother is also in need of the FMLA as she is the sole caretaker of my 89 year old grandmother who has heart and digestive problems that require frequent medical appointments and hospitalizations.

None of us are immune to the effects of either having a baby or growing old. We all want and need to be taken care of either when we are newborns or when we are old and infirm. Rich and poor, these are issues that affect us all. We all deserve the peace of mind that our jobs will still be there should we need to take time away to care for our loved ones or ourselves.

I encourage you to support and extend the FMLA to all US citizens regardless of employer size. There is no excuse why this great land of ours should be so far behind the rest of the world in providing this most basic of human rights – the right to properly take care of the young and the aged.

Shelli
San Francisco, CA 94103
shellimf@yahoo.com

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January 10, 2007 at 4:47 pm by Anonymous

I have had to use FMLA when I had my son. I had HELLP syndrome and was VERY sick before my baby was born and after. The FMLA law saved me and my job. My company was wonderful and I was off for almost 5 months.
The one issue I have is that people use FMLA to call off sick when ever they feel like it. I work in healthcare doing payroll and you would not believe the amount of people who abuse FMLA. I would like to see companies follow the guidelines and not allow the abuse to take place

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January 10, 2007 at 4:39 pm by Anonymous

To Whom it May Concern,

It has recently come to my attention that the FMLA may be in jeopardy of being curtailed, where in fact it ought to be expanded.

More than 25 years ago, my mother was pregnant with my older sister – and as she neared the end of her pregnancy, her health became very delicate and was ordered to sustained bedrest for the final 2 month of the pregnancy. My father went to his employer of the time and explained that with my mother confined to her bed – he needed some time off to care for her as they were in no position to hire help from anyone else. My father’s employer refused – even when my father said he would take the time as unpaid if necessary. My father thus was forced to quit his job and spent the time at home to take care of my mother. They struggled to make ends meet for those following months as my dad worked 3 jobs to make ends meet once my mother delivered my sister. Under the FMLA my parents never would have been put in that position. I urge you, do not curtail the FMLA – in fact you should consider increasing it’s coverage to include some amount of paid leave. We are currently 1 of only 4 countries out of 168 surveyed in a Harvard study that has no form of paid leave for new mothers – along with Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Now I think for us to be in this category is a travesty – we’re supposed to be one of the best places in the world to live – we ought to support our mothers as well as any European Nation can.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:38 pm by Anonymous

I recently returned from Maternity leave a few weeks ago. My company is covered under FMLA and I live in Washinton state, which gives its workers an additional 6 weeks of UNPAID leave, on top of FMLA’s 12 weeks. I opted to take the entire 18 weeks off, but received pay for just 9 of those weeks. 5 weeks of that was paid at 60% of my usual salary, due to my company mandating this policy, and another 4 weeks were paid because I had to use up the entire 4 weeks of vacation I have saved up. The remaning 9 weeks were not paid at all. I returned to work with zero vacation or sick days left and having not been paid at all during Nov and Dec (tough during the holidays!!). My husband has the option to work overtime at his job, so luckily he was able to increase his schedule to 70 hours a week to cover my lack of paychecks. Even then, we barely got by. I consider myself extremely lucky to take 18 weeks off, when most of my friends only took off 6-12 weeks and it was totally unpaid. To think they are contemplating scaling back this important program is absurd!! They should make it even longer. 3 months off should not be a luxury, it should be a minimum and we should be paid for it. The US needs to look at the big picture. Families are the backbone of America and without a strong family support structure, this will turn into a huge problem.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:38 pm by Anonymous

I live in Canada, and I am appalled at the rules applied to the maternity leave in the States! I get an entire YEAR of PAID leave, with any company at all, and must have my position held for me for my return after that year. How deplorable is 12 weeks, or possible job-loss after the arrival of a child (biological birth or adoption – the stresses are the same), or a stressful situation in the family. Parents should receive MORE leave, and paid, in order to take care of their family, NOT LESS.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:37 pm by Anonymous

I am writing to show my support for the family medical leave act. I believe that the FMLA was a huge step in the right direction to supporting families and children in our country. We must all look out for the common good and secure family leave is an important way to do this.

As the Department of Labor evaluates the importance of this act, I ask that you consider not only maintaining this important law, but also expanding it to better serve our workers and their children. We need to secure leave for all employees, not just those who work for larger employers and that have worked at a place of employment for at least one year. A parent needs the ability to spend time with their child no matter how large their company is or how long they have been at a current position.

We also need to include paid parental leave as part of the FMLA. We are one of very few countries that do not offer some form of paid leave. What does that say about our values and support of future generations? Why put families in a position of financial hardship from the moment they have a baby. This should be a time of joy, bonding, and healthy decisions not fear and anxiety about job security and finances.

Thank you for considering my comments. I look forward to the continuation and expansion of the FMLA.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:25 pm by Anonymous

As a member of MomsRising.org, I’m writing to express my support for the Family and Medical Leave Act. When my daughter was born, I didn’t have access to family leave, paid or unpaid; I was a graduate student, and because I was considered a student rather than an employee, the only way to take time off of work for the birth of a child was to withdraw from the program and reapply at a later date. Fortunately, my husband had access to FMLA through his job as a public university. The institution’s extremely generous family leave policy allowed his to take a semester off teaching at full pay. Although he still had to serve on committees and supervise graduate students, he was able to spend workdays at home with our daughter. Their time together was very special for him, and it allowed us to welcome our daughter without putting other aspects of our life–education, career, paycheck–at risk. Today, we have a happy, thriving three-year-old in addition to jobs that we love and the security of a regular income.

Yet this kind of story is all to rare in America today. Among my friends, all of whom are college-educated and have good, white-collar jobs, none of them has been able to take more than a few weeks of paid leave when a child is born. None of them has had the chance that my husband and I had, to welcome their children and grow accustomed to parenthood over a period of months, rather than weeks or even days. When I contrast this with a friend in Canada, who had a full year of paid maternity leave after her daughter was born, I wonder how long America can continue to call itself the greatest nation in the world when it is so hesitant to invest in its future. Paid leave improves infant health; healthy kids have fewer learning and behavioral problems in school; well-educated kids turn into a well-educated workforce. Family-friendly policies don’t just benefit workers with kids; they benefit the companies whose workers are productive, the teachers whose students are happy and healthy, and the communities who have fewer kids on welfare or in jail. When the rest of the industrialized world has already figured this out, can the United States afford to remain in the dark?

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January 10, 2007 at 4:24 pm by Anonymous

I am writing to express my view that the FMLA should not be scaled back and indeed is in desperate need of expansion. As an attorney and a mother of two, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to take maternity leave with both of my children. However, my ability to take leave, and especially my husband’s ability to take leave, was extremely circumscribed by the fact that FMLA leave is unpaid. Therefore, we had to constantly juggle our expenses in order to take any time off. For the second child my husband was only able to take two weeks, which made it much harder to adjust to the changes in our family life, for me as well as for both children. At the very least, the FMLA should require states to provide individuals on FMLA leave to collect unemployment payments, including fathers who take time off at the birth of a child. Better, the FMLA should require states to implement an unemployment-like program where employers pay payroll taxes on employees’ wages and employees on FMLA leave are able to collect their full salaries while on leave. The United States lags far, far behind every other industrialized country in this matter.

In addition, the US government had recently made clear that it wants to encourage breastfeeding among mothers. The only possible way to accomplish this is to provide ALL women with at least four months of paid leave in order to get breastfeeding established. In addition, to support breastfeeding women, the FMLA should incorporate tax cuts for nursing supplies, such as nursing pumps and breastmilk storage equipment, which are extremely pricey. Finally, the FMLA should require all employers to allow nursing mothers at least two twenty minute breaks per day in which to pump milk, as well as a private, clean place (not the ladies bathroom) in which to pump.

Finally, FMLA should be broadened to provide public day care for babies up until they are old enough to attend public school. Although parents currently have access to public schools for their children over the age of five, there is nothing available to families with small children, which frequently results in parents resorting to unregulated babysitting arrangements at a very high cost to families. In addition to allowing parents of young children to work with fewer constraints, this would create innumerable jobs in the early childhood field, and would therefore lower the unemployment rate.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:24 pm by Anonymous

Our current maternity leave standards are unfriendly and unhealthy for working families, and working single mothers. New mothers are are under considerable physical and emotional duress which is not only caused by the natural processes of pregnancy, delivery, and caring for a newborn, but also in part by the worry of maternity leave from work. In cooperation with the government, companies must provide at least partial pay for the 12 week leave, and consider putting into place a family-friendly system that would not only lessen the burden on new mothers and families, but actually increase an employees committment and productivity for that company – my suggestion is similar to vesting – for example, besides the FMLA 12 week, there would be additional leave credits available based on a seniority scale of work history with that company..ie if a mom worked for a company for x amount of years, she would be entitled to an additonal x months of paid or partially paid leave. Creating a better future for our children starts at the roots of our economy – our workforce. When you don’t give mothers the resources they need to properly start the life of a new child, you are putting that child behind the proverbial 8 ball even before they get to our education system.

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January 10, 2007 at 4:24 pm by Anonymous

Dear Commissioners
On the eve of the renewal of the FMLA, it’s time to revisit and expand the traits that are best about it.

Instead of gutting the provisions included in the existing law, now is the time to bring the FMLA in step with the 21st century and make the US again a leader in this area. Of the 168 countries surveyed in a Harvard study, the US was one of four that didn’t offer paid leave for new mothers, alongside Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papau New Guinea. This is an embarrassment to our nation.

Expand coverage to include mothers in all companies, not just those with employee counts over 50, and include provisions for paid leave. Nothing less is acceptable.

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January 17, 2007 at 11:42 pm by Anonymous

The momsrising email is misleading by leaving out Australia for unpaid maternity leave. I love the thought of momsrising, but we must be able to trust it for accurate information.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-07-27-business-of-life_x.htm

“With little public debate, the United States has chosen a radically different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don’t provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states.

Australian mothers have it better, however, with one year of job-protected leave. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but it only covers those who work for larger companies.

To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland. ”

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January 18, 2007 at 10:11 am by Anonymous

When I took time off from my job with a large federal agency to adopt my daughter and bring her home from China, I was shocked to find out that for federal employees there is no such thing as paid maternity leave. Regardless of whether you were becoming a parent by birth or adoption, there is no separate paid leave for that — you have to use accumulated vacation time, sick leave and comp time and take unpaid time (if you can convince someone of that idea). And if you take more than six weeks off unpaid, then your paid health insurance benefits stop and you have to pay back the feds for your coverage.

Family friendly? Do I really need to answer that?

PunditMom
http://punditmom1.blogspot.com

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January 18, 2007 at 10:12 am by Anonymous

When I took time off from my job with a large federal agency to adopt my daughter and bring her home from China, I was shocked to find out that for federal employees there is no such thing as paid maternity leave. Regardless of whether you were becoming a parent by birth or adoption, there is no separate paid leave for that — you have to use accumulated vacation time, sick leave and comp time and take unpaid time (if you can convince someone of that idea). And if you take more than six weeks off unpaid, then your paid health insurance benefits stop and you have to pay back the feds for your coverage.

Family friendly? Do I really need to answer that?

PunditMom
http://punditmom1.blogspot.com

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January 18, 2007 at 11:55 am by Anonymous

I am contacting you regarding the proposed cutting back on the current FMLA as it applies to maternity leave.

It is absolutley absurd that the United States of America is lagging behind so many other nations in there treatment of women in the workplace and not making reasonable provisions for women to stay home and care for there newborn child. This is particularly disconcerning while watching the news and keeping up in current events as we see one after another hired nanny being arrested for child abuse and neglect. And the worst part being that most people then wonder where is the mother and how could she let this happen… well the incomplete and unjust FMLA is the reason for such combined with the every increase cost of living here in the US. I live with my husbanc in a small apartment in NYC where although now we have a fine living standard (which is mostly inpart due to my husbands frugality) the rising costs of real estate makes it nearly impossible for us to purchase a home with our combined income of over 150,000. Know with a little one on the way, the FMLA provisions leave little time for me to properly care for my newborn at home without feeling the urgent need to get back to work.

Another issue of concern with cutting back on the FMLA would naturally be that of abortions. How can the government (ahem Mr. Bush) be anit-abortion and then not provide mothers with the proper provisions and regualtions to allow them to comfortably and safley care for their newborn child?

We really need to focus on family values in this country, all too often we are trying to increase the standard of living in other nations while here in the US we are being left behind.

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January 20, 2007 at 3:10 pm by Anonymous

Back in 1994, I was fortunate, in that I belonged to a strong union, American Postal Workers Union. After my third child, my mother was stricken with cancer. At that time, the US Postal Service in Seattle, had not advised, informed, or educated employees about their rights under FMLA. I was fired for taking too much time off to care for my Mother and three young children. Fortunately, with a strong Union, and help from the Local Department of Labor, I won my wrongful termination greivance. After several months, I was reinstated with pay but the stress of the entire process took it’s toll. If it were not for APWU and a very determined Union Rep., who knows how many other employees would have been affected by the USPS policy of not enforcing or educating employees and managers about FMLA.
As our society changes, it is critical that we maintain and improve employees rights under FMLA. I truly believe that workers and Unions are being targeted by the Bush administration’s actions. Not providing adequate FMLA will not “force” families to bond together but it will pull families apart. It will contribute to a more “temporary” workforce where employees can easily be replaced. As was my case, some Employers and even the Federal Government, USPS, will try to quash workers rights in order to make and maintain the “bottom line” or production schedules. I sincerely hope and pray that all workers will “rise up” and take responsibility to keep what rights we have earned. This is a critical time in Labor history.
Thank you for this forum.

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January 22, 2007 at 11:17 pm by Anonymous

The FMLA is an important component of societal support of the family and the future. Supporting leave for parents to take care of their children helps ensure a healthier (emotionally and physically) future for our society. Supporting leave for children to care for their parents honors the contributions of their generation. Supporting spouses to care for their spouses helps support marriage, which is one of the building blocks of our society.

Our country depends on its people. Our people’s health depends on taking care of each other emotionally and physically. The government should do its part to build and maintain these supports so that we can continue to be a strong and vibrant nation. The costs should be borne by all because we all benefit from having a strong society.

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January 23, 2007 at 9:44 pm by Anonymous

I never realized how lucky I was until I started reading the stats on the “Moms Rising” website.

My first child was born just 5 weeks shy of my 5th anniversary at a large company covered under FMLA. At the time I was VERY annoyed that they were only paying me for 6 weeks of my leave at full pay (then 2 weeks at 60%) because I hadn’t reached my 4 year anniversary *before* giving birth. I argued with HR that I would reach my 4 year anniversary before I would start into those 2 weeks at 60% pay, but that had no sway on them. What was especially annoying was that I had worked as a “temp” at that company for 7 months before being hired “permanent”–so my daughter was really born nearly 5 months AFTER my “true” 4th anniversary. But I didn’t realize that I had it so much better than so many other moms.

I can’t imagine not having FMLA. My husband worked for a terrible employer when our first child was born, and I’m sure he would have been fired for taking time off to be with me if it weren’t for FMLA protecting him. I don’t have much in the way of family support…so after the birth of each of our children it has been just us.

I sobbed continuously the first day I was back to work after my first daughter was born. I was SO not ready to go back! Again…I’m one of the lucky ones as my husband and I have been able to work opposite work shifts so we don’t have the daycare issue…but it is rough on us. We wonder why the US has a high divorce rate…well there it is…between needing to work and having kids, there is no time to nurture marriages. I pray for my marriage…but I know its gone through some rocky times. We have 4 kids now, I’ve taken a total of 56 weeks of maternity leave in about 5.5 years–36 weeks of it at full pay and 2 weeks at 60% pay. But that really was not without a price.

My career has suffered, and ultimately I was laid off because I was unable to fully devote myself to my work. It would have been better if I had been able to take off at least 6 months at partial pay after the birth of each child so that I could focus on their intense needs during that time–then I could have returned to work with more ability to focus on my job.

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January 23, 2007 at 9:44 pm by Anonymous

I never realized how lucky I was until I started reading the stats on the “Moms Rising” website.

My first child was born just 5 weeks shy of my 5th anniversary at a large company covered under FMLA. At the time I was VERY annoyed that they were only paying me for 6 weeks of my leave at full pay (then 2 weeks at 60%) because I hadn’t reached my 4 year anniversary *before* giving birth. I argued with HR that I would reach my 4 year anniversary before I would start into those 2 weeks at 60% pay, but that had no sway on them. What was especially annoying was that I had worked as a “temp” at that company for 7 months before being hired “permanent”–so my daughter was really born nearly 5 months AFTER my “true” 4th anniversary. But I didn’t realize that I had it so much better than so many other moms.

I can’t imagine not having FMLA. My husband worked for a terrible employer when our first child was born, and I’m sure he would have been fired for taking time off to be with me if it weren’t for FMLA protecting him. I don’t have much in the way of family support…so after the birth of each of our children it has been just us.

I sobbed continuously the first day I was back to work after my first daughter was born. I was SO not ready to go back! Again…I’m one of the lucky ones as my husband and I have been able to work opposite work shifts so we don’t have the daycare issue…but it is rough on us. We wonder why the US has a high divorce rate…well there it is…between needing to work and having kids, there is no time to nurture marriages. I pray for my marriage…but I know its gone through some rocky times. We have 4 kids now, I’ve taken a total of 56 weeks of maternity leave in about 5.5 years–36 weeks of it at full pay and 2 weeks at 60% pay. But that really was not without a price.

My career has suffered, and ultimately I was laid off because I was unable to fully devote myself to my work. It would have been better if I had been able to take off at least 6 months at partial pay after the birth of each child so that I could focus on their intense needs during that time–then I could have returned to work with more ability to focus on my job.

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January 24, 2007 at 1:07 pm by Anonymous

This isn’t a personal story, but I hope this is the appropriate place to post it nonetheless:

I just found on THOMAS that Sen. Ted Stevens has introduced a bill called the Family Leave Act (S. 80), which mandates 8 weeks full pay for maternity leave, 5 days paid paternity or adoption leave, and 8 hours per 12 months for children’s doctor visits.

It was introduced to the Senate on January 4, and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Does anyone know anything about this bill? It seems an odd committee to send it to, but I wouldn’t think that the democratic leadership would try to bury this bill. Unless it’s because it was introduced by a republican senator, and one of the democratic senators has a better bill up his/her sleeve.

I really know *nothing* more about this, and was wondering if anyone out there does.

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January 15, 2007 at 12:32 pm by Anonymous

Dear Dept. Labor Staff,

I am a 53 year old mother of 2 daughters. I’ve worked full time most of my life. For the past 26 years I have been a full time faculty member at 2 colleges. My current college has no real family leave policy, their response to women who are pregnant has been “ad-hoc”. If it weren’t for the FMLA act I don’t think they would have given me the leave I got when I had a child in 1990.

As an economist I can’t understand why you would want to scale back the provisions of FMLA. We all know that most firms spend a significant amount of time and money training people, why would they want to lose that?

As for those who are unskilled, don’t we owe those women family leave?

What are the two most important functions of a society? To defend itself from aggressors, and to continue the society by producing the next generation (not necessarily in that order). Why is it that Veterans receive significant benefits for defending the country, and those who produce the next generation (mothers) receive virtually nothing?

If anything, the DOL should be working towards greater benefits for families, as most of our European counterparts have done. If you can’t work towards better benefits, the least you can do is prevent the scaling back of the FMLA.

Sincerly,

Dr. Elaine Donovan

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January 15, 2007 at 1:26 pm by Anonymous

I worked for a small music school and taught all of the large group classes. The school was small, only about 40 employees but I wanted to write anyways. I was told that I could only have 2 weeks off for maternity leave because “there was no one else who could teach my classes”, according to my childless boss. My first child was an emergency c-section so I told her I couldn’t promise and my job was threatened. Luckily, my second child was born without needing a c-section. Still, I stayed in the hospital longer due to extreme blood loss. I had anemia from low iron and was very week. Within 2 weeks I was in the hospital with thrush and a high fever due to mastitis. The next day, I was back to teaching. First of all, my water broke during a class and my son was born 5 hours later so my students were not expecting to see me so quickly but I had to come back. I was so sick and tired and I hated having my new baby with a sitter. I taught my classes in a half daze the first week. My son was exposed to RSV at the sitters very young and spent some time in the hospital. The guilt became too unbearable so I finally quit the job to teach strictly in my home. I think many of my problems may have been easier if I didn’t feel the pressure to work so quickly after the delivery and having to find sitters for my young child. I hope the law expands to very small companies as well.
Molly Wood
Mahomet, IL

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January 15, 2007 at 7:21 pm by Anonymous

I was fired because I needed to take 1 1/2 weeks off from my teaching job at a small, private, prestigious school in Western Washington due to an unexpected medical emergency. I was devastated that that is how I could be treated. I had felt so welcomed and supported by the families of the school one moment, and completely disposed of by the administration the next. But,as a small and private company, they are allowed to do that because their employees are not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act. It is essential that the FMLA be expanded to include all employers, large and small, public and private. There was absolutely no other reason I was let go aside from the fact that I had a medical emergency that prevented me from working for a short period.

And as a perfect example of what should have happened in my situation, this fall, one year after this event, I found myself substitute teaching in the Seattle Public Schools for a teacher who was indefinitely out. The principal could not tell me when or if she was coming back. But she had her rights of privacy and the backing of the teacher’s union and the FMLA to take the time she needed. Her job was her job. She did return, after two months, and her stuff was not packed up and put in a closet and she was not treated like a trespasser who had to be overseen, as I was when I returned to my job. I stayed to help her transition back into her classroom and that was that.

Everyone deserves the time they need for welcoming new members into their family or taking care of medical emergencies. I am expecting my first child at the end of April and dealing with new discriminations as a mother should not be what I am worried about.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Zelda Menard Ramirez,
Seattle, WA

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January 16, 2007 at 12:13 am by Anonymous

I am writing to express my wholehearted support for the Family Medical Leave Act, which allowed me to spend the first 12 weeks of my daughter’s life at home with her in 2006. Every mother should have the right and the opportunity to do the same. I work full-time for an advertising agency, and I’m not sure if I could have taken that much time off without the FMLA in place.

I’ve heard some people express disapproval of employees taking leave for family needs, such as birth or a sick relative. But the reality is, we all have families and at some point will likely need to care for them for more than a day or two. In my case, I spent those 12 weeks recovering from the delivery and helping my daughter grow from a tiny newborn, just a little over 6 pounds, to a bright, shining 3-month-old. I could go back to work knowing she was OK (and so was I).

Please keep the FMLA intact, or better yet, strengthen it! The United States should set an example as a nation that’s friendly to and supportive of women, mothers, and families. One of the best ways to do that would be to offer paid maternity leave, as so many nations already do. And extend family leave to at least six months, for those who need more than a few weeks to care for their families.

Susan Jackson
Cincinnati, Ohio
Working Moms Against Guilt

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January 16, 2007 at 9:53 am by Anonymous

I am writing to express my belief that FMLA should be retained and expanded to benefit more families and, as a result, our country.

As a new mother in 1999, I was not eligible for paid maternity leave from the large company for whom I worked. The FMLA enabled me to take time to adjust to parenthood and make an early bond with my son. However, 3 months is a very short time for a family with a new baby or serious medical crisis. Rarely has the dust even settled at 12 weeks. The United States, as one of four countries that does not legislate for statutory paid maternity leave, really must consider the benefits of at least allowing families to choose unpaid leave with the promise of returning to the same or equivalent position after the leave.

Last year, while working in the United Kingdom, I had my second baby and was granted, like all mothers, 6 months maternity leave with a substantial amount of my monthly pay for the birst 4 months. It allowed me to recover physically, allowed my baby to have secure and unstressed access to nourishment and comfort, and allowed the entire family to ease into a ‘new normal’. I returned to work part time at six months when my baby was ready to spend time with other carers and I was ready and rested to take on my job again.

In contrast, 4 of my friends in America had babies last year. Two are teachers, one is a social worker, and one is a lawyer. All three had only a few weeks paid leave and opted to take FMLA. At 3 months when they were considering the return to work, each of them was under terrible stress and emotionally unprepared to leave their tiny babies for hours each day. Return to work they did, however, and experience exhaustion, stress, and strife with their husbands for many months.

There is no question. If I had my choice between having a child or a family illness in the United States or in any European Union country, I would choose Europe. Even as a foreigner I felt more supported as a family woman than I ever have in the United States. Please, keep and expand the FMLA so that the United States can be a place that supports and encourages healthy workers and healthy families to create a healthy economy and society

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January 16, 2007 at 12:05 pm by Anonymous

We live in what people consider a world power, yet we are one of a small group of countries who do not provide paid leave for carrying for the birth of a child or other health emergency. We are the only 1st world country without this “benefit” and that is appalling for a country once known as a super-power. Studies have shown that workers are more productive when given paid time off to care for their families.

My husband is a automotive technician and have been working at auto dealerships most of our relationship. Every place he has worked does not have at least 500 employees, so he is never able to even take time off to be home with a sick child or for the birth of his child without a fear of losing his job. Also, he has no paid sick days. He not only doesn’t make money, but we lose money when he is sick or takes time off. The federal goverment needs to mandate every employer in the US give all employees a minimum of days off for sick time. The goverment also needs to expand on FMLA, not cut it back to less than 12 weeks a year.

We spend so much money promoting family values in this country and that no child be left behind in school, be we don’t do anything to prove we value our familes and children. The US needs to look at the policies of other countries like Canada, the UK, Sweden, and Norway for a better way to take care of our families. Countries with paid time off from work to care for a child after birth have higher breastfeeding rates and therefore less sick children and less time must be then taken off to care of a sick child.

The government also needs to make it easier for working parents to breastfeed children, it would lessen the amount of money spent on caring for sick children in this county.

I had to take off time last February (2006) after I tore my rotator cuff. Now I am finding out that if I go out early for the birth of my second child this spring (due May 2007), my job may not be protected, since I could be going out before I have earned back all my FMLA time back. I had to go out early with my first child, almost 3 years ago because of pre-term labor and high blood pressure. I was on bedrest for at least 6-8 weeks and I had to come back to work sooner than I wanted to, because I only had 12 weeks total to be out, including that time I was on bedrest.

This country’s FMLA needs to be expanded to include more time in a 12 month period, include all employees in the US (not just those at large companies), and to include paid time off for parents to care for their children.

Sincerely,

Brenda L Schnettler
St. Louis, MO

[Reply]

January 16, 2007 at 1:00 pm by Anonymous

As a career woman and mother of two children under 5, I can not imagine what my life would be like without the FMLA. My first child was born in 2002, so I did not experience life before the FMLA. I also grew up assuming, if I so desired, I could have a career and raise children too. It never crossed my mind that there could be obstacles to something so simple.

With my first child, I was fortunate to work for a large company owned by an overseas firm and not only was guaranteed my job by law but received partial pay through the firm’s short term disability policy during my 12 week maternity leave. I was very pleased with this and assumed that most of the medium to large firms in my field offered this benefit.

With my second child, I found out that not all firms offered this benefit. My job as guaranteed by law was still available when I came back from maternity leave but I received no pay for the time I was out. As an older parent, I am no longer saddled with college loans and had some savings so I was able to cover expenses while I was out. I expected to come back after 8 weeks but when my child got sick I had to remain at home until he was 12 weeks old (after that point the protocol is not to do a spinal tap for fevers) putting additional strains on my family’s finances.

If we are family oriented as a country, we need to make a commitment to the women who have and the parents who raise these children. Just the littlest issue could quickly put my family over the edge financially despite our responsible spending and savings habits. I can not image how women and families with less manage. I have talked to other new mother struggling with work situations that do not allow time off to care for sick children or to take children to doctor’s appointments.

Juggling career and family needs continues to be a challenge but one I would not change if I could. I contribute to my community in many ways (family, career, volunteering) and intend to continue doing so. It is right to support communities and families they are our strength and our future.

Please keep the FMLA intact and please take the next step in supporting our families by adding benefits to the FMLA.

Jill Baker

Maitland, FL

[Reply]

January 16, 2007 at 2:10 pm by Anonymous

Hello.

I am an expectant mother-due January 27th with my first child. I am also one of the many mothers who isn’t getting any protection from the FMLA, because I am not an “eligible employee.” I am urging you to expand the coverage of the FMLA and to provide paid family leave.

Let me share my story: I am a post-doctoral researcher at … University. I completed my Ph.D. there in September. While I’ve been at this university for almost 5 years, I was on a federal fellowship for my PhD. So while I received a paycheck from the university, I wasn’t technically an employee until September. Hence, the FMLA does me absolutely no good. And it probably doesn’t do many grad students any good, since here (as at most universities) restrict grad student employees to 20 hours a week or less, excluding them from FMLA protection. A friend of mine, a grad student at …, recently gave birth to her first child. The only way she was able to take any leave time without losing her job was by the fortunate coincidence that her baby was born over our winter break. Now she is back at work with a very young infant.

People like my friend and I don’t have the protection of FMLA, and we don’t have any other resources on which to fall back. Our state has somewhat less stringent employment requirements than the federal program, but still not enough to help us. Our university doesn’t offer any leave other than what is required by law, and the waiting period for short-term disability insurance was enough to exclude me from receiving any benefit from it.

I’ve been scrupulously hoarding my sick and vacation time, which should give me ~3 weeks leave after I cut back to half-time. Three weeks is not enough time to recover from giving birth, much less to adjust to being a new parent. I can’t afford to be less than half-time because I will lose my health insurance, and I don’t have any legal vehicle for taking unpaid leave. So three weeks after my baby is born, I will be back at a job that demands the utmost of my physical and mental resources. And if I or my baby get sick, I won’t be able to take any more time off until I have once again accumulated some sick leave. I am hoping and praying that my delivery will be easy, my baby will be healthy, and we will manage to avoid any winter illnesses. Because if everything is not optimum, I don’t have many options.

Stories like mine (and that of my friend) are why we need to make sure that the FMLA is expanded to cover workers who have worked for their present employer for less than a year, those who work part-time, and those who work for small businesses. The best situation would be a comprehensive paid family leave plan that covers all workers. Please help make that a reality so that future expectant mothers don’t have all the heartache and worry that I have had.

[Reply]

February 4, 2007 at 10:38 am by Anonymous

To Whom it May Concern,
My name is Kristina Schauer, I am writing in support of the Family Medical Leave Act, under which I am currently taking a leave of absence from my job to raise my infant son. I work for the University of New Mexico, which has no formal maternity or paternity leave policy in place. Employees are allowed to take annual and sick leave off at the birth of a child, but this rarely amounts to more than four to six weeks. I feel strongly that infants need more than a month or two with their parents after birth. FMLA has allowed me to stay home for four months; although I feel my employer and this country in general has a long way to go on the issue of maternity/ paternity leave to catch up with the rest of the world, I am grateful for the minimum 12 weeks allowed by FMLA.

Any business or corporate opposition to a national policy on maternity/paternity leave is wrong and hypocritical, in my opinion. On the one hand we value childbearing and raising as one of our highest cultural values, and yet on the other we expect children not to interfere with work flow. The model of women staying at home to take care of the kids while dad earns all the money is just not viable anymore in today’s economy; both my husband and I must work in order to pay our mortgage. Our business culture needs to reframe its view on maternity/paternity leave and realize that spending time with an infant is a right we should all have, not just a benefit for those lucky enough to work for progressive companies.

FMLA should not only be retained but expanded and extended to the standards of the rest of the world.

Kristina Schauer
Albuquerque, New Mexico

[Reply]

February 4, 2007 at 4:15 pm by Anonymous

To Whom it May Concern:

I’m writing to express my shock at the news that you are thinking of scaling back the FMLA act. More than anything, this law needs to be expanded to cover ALL American Employees, regardless of whether they work full time or part time, and regardless of the size of their company.

14 months ago, I gave birth to my first child, a baby boy. At the time, I was working part time as a clerk in an insurance company and finishing my professional degree at the University of Wisconsin. My family, like every working family, depended on my income to make ends meet. But since I didn’t work full time, I wasn’t eligible for any protection under FMLA because I didn’t work enough hours. Nor was I eligible for vacation time or temporary disability leave through my employer. I was initally offered one week off after the birth of my son. Months of negotiations, and a supportive supervisor managed to stretch that to six weeks of unpaid leave, regardless of whether I had a natural birth or a caesarean section.

I was blessed to have a very normal and natural birth with no complications for me or my son. Three weeks post partum, I developed an infection in my gallbladder and needed an emergency gallbladder removal. I spent two nights in the hospital, and the rest of the week recovering at home. The next monday morning, four days out of surgery and four weeks post-partum, I returned to work. Walking was painful, sitting was painful, and I was still dependent on painkillers to function, but my new family could not do without my income any longer with the new expenses a baby brings, so I showed up and I cried the whole day through.

Returning to work so early affected both my ability to breastfeed and my transition to motherhood. My son is now a toddler; I will never get those weeks of holding and caring for my small newborn baby or bonding with him back. In a country that proports to believe in family values, it is unthinkable to me that we value the creation of a family so little as to only offer a small percentage of our workers even a basic package of unpaid leave and seems horrific to me that the department of labor would bow to business interests and think of scaling back what little we do offer. I’d ask you to expand the family and medical leave act to value all families, regardless of the hours which their wage earning parents may work.

[Reply]

February 5, 2007 at 5:39 pm by Anonymous

Dear Department of Labor;

I understand that comments are welcome in the review of the FMLA. I just want to say that without this law protecting my job, I am convinced that I would not have been able to nurse my child successfully. I did, and she did not have one illness or sick child visit to the doctor until she caught her first cold at six months.

New mothers are notorious for using emergency rooms in the middle of the night for ailments, which raise costs for everyone. Healthy babies obviously lessen that need, and breastfeeding helps them thrive. It seems like a no-brainer!

Please retain the FMLA; and expanding it to six months would go a long way towards creating more stories like mine.

With thanks,

Vanessa Rocco
New York, NY

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:04 pm by Anonymous

My father is in the hospital. My sister had paid time for family emergencies. She is with my father. My brothers, sister and I don’t have the same opportunity. though it is unfair, we a grateful that at least one of us can be with him.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 8:17 pm by Anonymous

I am writing to urge you not only to stop any efforts to scale back the FMLA but to take this opportunity of investigating it and EXPAND it, bringing the USA in line with other progressive countries that care about families.

I find it highly ironic and deeply disturbing that in a country where the government professes to care so much about “family values” and “no child being left behind,” we don’t give hard-working fathers and mothers the chance to do what is best for their children at the most crucial time, when they are newborn, by giving them generous support through paid leave and generous time off with no consequences after birth. In other countries, parents of newborns are supported with fully paid leave for up to one year, as well as free help by nurses in the home. What a wonderful thing it would be for our nation’s children to receive equally good care in this important stage of life.

Furthermore, postpartum depression and psychosis are sadly a big issue in this country, one which costs taxpayers and insurance companies a lot in perscription drugs and support services, not to mention possible injury to mother and child. Wouldn’t it be better to prevent postpartum depression and psychosis by offering women the support, care and financial stability they deserve after birth? Studies have shown that women who feel nurtured and relaxed in the first few months can avoid the worst of PPD and PPP.

These are only a couple of the reasons why expanding the FMLA is a good idea. There are many more, all of which relate to the better care of children and the elderly in this country.

Thank you for considering what’s best for this nation’s children and families. I hope to see an expanded, more generous version of the FMLA in the coming years.

[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 2:43 pm by Anonymous

Good Day everyone:
I am a mother of 3 now, but years ago, when I was a mother of two, with a sick child, I lost one job after another. Not a big deal, you say, her husband was still working at the time. But of course my self esteem went down along with my son’s health. I was working for an up scale beauty salon when my son was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome. I was let go because of many days missed due to hospital stays. Then, started another job in another salon, stayed for few months, and then again was let go due to, to many days missed. This happened another 2 more times, and I just gave up trying to work. My self-esteme just dropped. I started seeing a Therapist, and needed to take antidepressants, anti anxiety medication. My husband and I tried to learn about Nephrotic Syndrome but there was not a lot of information about Gabriel’s kidney disease at the time. Through the years of 1996 and 2004 he was hospitalized many times for tests, and treated for dehydration, peritonitis, blood transfusionings, and severe edema. http://www.NephCure.org is a non-profit organization seeking a cure for NS and FSGS. Gabriel’s story and many other stories can be found there.
Passing this act will help mothers like me to be where we are needed most, with our ailing children. Passing this act will also give that parent a place of employment to go back to for peace of mind, and self esteem booster in the mist of the tornado’s wrath.
Donna Colucci
(201) 634-1090
(201) 281-1832
The North Jersey Chapter NephCure
published 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
http://www.NephCure.org
http://www.BCthemag.com
http://www.matkinyoga.com
http://www.DailyOM.com

[Reply]

January 15, 2007 at 11:03 am by Anonymous

I am writing to express my support for the Family and Medical Leave Act. As you work to consider its effect since passage in 1993, I would encourage you to consider expanding its support of families by working in a paid structure, especially for new mothers. It’s incredible that a country with our resources and resourcefulness is alone among nations at its rank in not supporting paid leave for new mothers who work outside the home. I trust that the committees involved in assessing FMLA will do all they can to support women’s efforts to be mothers when they must also be paid workers. Motherhood should not be an economic privilege only for those women who can afford to leave their jobs, nor should women have to sacrifice spending crucial early bonding time with their infants.

Adrienne McCormick
Fredonia, NY

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January 10, 2007 at 4:09 pm by Anonymous

I have heard that there is a possibility the Family Medical Leave Act may be scaled down. This would be a disgraceful action. As the only non-3rd world country out of 168 countries investigated which DOES NOT offer some type of paid medical leave, we should be expanding the FMLA, not trying to gut it. When I had a child three years ago, I had to tap into my retirement savings to pay my family’s bills while I was out of the work force. While it was wonderful to be able to stay home for 90 days with my newborn without risking losing my job, it was frightening to not have any source of income during that time.

Please not only support retaining the FMLA, but take action to make it more useful to those it is intended to assist.

Thank you.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:11 pm by Anonymous

As a working mother of two young children, I wouldn’t have been able to spend time with them as newborns if it hadn’t been for the FMLA. To think that the USA is one of only four countries in the world not to offer PAID leave to new mothers is simply ridiculous. I have worked hard for the same company for 8+ years and as the primary breadwinner for my family, being on unpaid maternity leave made it very difficult for my family’s finances. Please reconsider the status of the FMLA and maybe even add to the act by requiring companies to pay employees while they are out for what is supposed to be a truly wonderful time if your life.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:15 pm by Anonymous

Hello,
I would like to briefly beg you to reconsider scaling back the FMLA laws. When I had my two daughters 8 and 10 years ago, I was allowed 6 weeks of unpaid leave. I surely didn’t want to go back to work after 6 weeks, but I HAD to, my family could not afford for me not to, and we had money in the bank and good insurance. I only wonder what hardships other mothers who work must face who don’t have money set aside, compassionate employers and insurance.
C’mon, we are not a third world country. Moms need time off to get their health, strength and energy back, not to mention care for their newborns. This is America, take care of your moms.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:16 pm by Anonymous

Six years ago, when I was 27, my colon became infected, and ruptured. My daughter was 3 at the time. I had emergency surgery the next day, and was able to take 6 weeks off under FMLA to recuperate. I needed to have a second surgery several months later, to reverse a colostomy I had received during the first surgery, and was able to take 4 weeks off under FMLA the second time. If not for my employer being covered under FMLA, I would have lost my job. I did lose a job (with a different employer) while I was on maternity leave with my daughter, because the company was too small to be covered under FMLA. I believe that the FMLA should apply to ALL employers and ALL employees, not just companies with more than a certain number of employees.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:17 pm by Anonymous

I am an obstetrician and mother of two, and I am writing to urge the Department of Labor to expand the Family Medical Leave Act. I care for women with high risk pregnancies, and my patients frequently must take time off from work for physician appointments, hospitalizations and bed rest. Many give birth to preterm babies, who spend the first few months of life in intensive care. These moms have myriad worries — and FMLA at least allows those who work for larger companies to know they will have a job waiting for them in 12 weeks.

For many, however, unpaid leave is not enough, and they cannot afford to take more than a few weeks off after their baby’s birth. In a recent study, the US was one of only four countries without some form of paid parental leave. We share this dubious distinction with Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho. If the current administration cares about family values, then it will start by implementing policies that value families. Expanding the Family Medical Leave Act is a great place to start.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:22 pm by Anonymous

…because of the restriction on company size, which is not overall company size, but size at your work location, or so my company told me. The company I worked for at the time I gave birth had over 50 employees, but not in my location — as a result, I had no right to coverage under FMLA.

Most of my maternity leave was unpaid also because of the structure of our benefits program, where short-term disability could not be used during the exclusionary period for long-term disability, so I had a short period of leave, a short period of short-term disability, and then was forced to go on unpaid leave for over a month during the LTD exclusion period, then was paid 50% of my salary for a couple of weeks, and then waited at the mercy of my company for a role to open into which I could be reintroduced, my project having ended while I was out on maternity.

And as a mother of my son (now a toddler), I am constantly amazed at how hard it is to be both a mother and a full-time employee. Despite laws not requiring me to reveal that I have children, I felt it only reasonable to tell my new employer about my toddler, because I needed to know that they would work with me on the flexibility I need to handle child responsibilities, in particular a set day care drop-off time in the morning which sometimes interferes with my availability for business.

I have a husband, a well-paying job, and I still find balancing motherhood with career difficult; I can’t imagine how single mothers with multiple children manage in our society.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:22 pm by Anonymous

I am going to be a dad soon and fortunately I will be able to benefit from the FMLA. However, I am troubled that the Department of Labor would like to scale down the FMLA. In a country like the United States (any country for that matter) a system which supports mothers and families should be paramount.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 4:23 pm by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my support for the current medical and maternity leave law, and ask that it be expanded NOT scaled back. A society is only as successful as its families, and most societies and governments today acknowledge this by giving adequate leave time for care providers when necessary. According to a Harvard study of 168 countries, we were one of only FOUR countries that didn’t mandate paid leave for new mothers – in the company of Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho. A government that does not recognize the importance of mothers by requiring paid maternity leave doesn’t respect or support families.
As a new mother who had to leave my job in order to take care of my newborn daughter, I urge you to resist the pressure of corporate lobbyists and find the power to EXPAND the FMLA. For mothers, for children, for families and for a more powerful, prosperous community in which all citizens are honored for their work and contributions – MAKE THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT STRONGER!

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 5:50 pm by Anonymous

The Family Leave Medical Act needs to be expanded and strengthened. As a parent of two children and a researcher who has looked into this matter, I have found that time spent with infants and children is repaid many fold. Time lost is difficult to regain.

My wife was working full time with the US government and forced to return to work after only a few weeks after giving birth to our first child. Then after a few weeks she was expected to serve call and other tasks that took her away from her nursing infant for 60 or more hours a week.

One of the nurses asked my wife why she was crying one day. The nurse thought that the work was too traumatic. My wife said, “No, I love serving my patients, but I miss my baby.”

When her three year time commitment ended she left the Health Service for several years to be with our first born and to give birth to and care for our second child. Had the Health Service been more flexible she would have been thrilled to continue working in a part time capacity until the second child was born and return to a full time position when the second child was old enough to attend school. As it is she will now work only part time. This is to the loss of the system.

Finland, which is a family centered nation, boasts that they have a 100% literacy rate among their high school graduates. They offer extended family leave for both parents of newborns if they choose. We recieve what we give.

FMLA needs to include all employers in the US. We owe it to our future generations. We must always look to the future generations and work to make them as strong and well adjusted as we can. Like Finland we need to build a family centered nation.

Thank you for considering these heartfelt comments.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 5:56 pm by Rebellious1

I am a 35-yr old mother of two now. I want to tell you my experiences with FMLA. When my first child was born, I was working for a local newspaper which did not offer any maternity leave. This baby was a “surprise,” and while my husband and I both worked, we were not making very much money. We could not afford for me to take unpaid leave, so all I could take in the way of time off was the 6 weeks of medical leave.

I tried to nurse my son but he and I both had difficulty with it; at 5 weeks old he became ill and was almost hospitalized; our family lives 700 miles away and I had no help after the first 2 weeks when they visited–and then at 6 weeks JUST when the baby and I were starting to really bond and figure out our new schedule, I had to send him to daycare so that I could go back to work. Back to work when I hadn’t slept since he was born. I don’t know exactly when it set in, but I ended up with a horrible case of Post-Partum Depression. My son ended up with ADHD.

It was not this way with our second child–we could then afford for me to take off the 3 months of FMLA. The baby and I established good breastfeeding habits; we bonded well; he was in a sleeping schedule by the time I went back to work; I never got PPD. Today he is healthy and happy.

I ended up being “laid-off” from that newspaper job anyway. I cost my insurance company who knows how much treating the PPD and subsequent problems.

What I’m trying to say is, here in America where we are supposed to be the #1 industrialized nation in the world, we lag way behind many other developed countries in paid family leave. My sister-in-law lived in Japan when she had her first child, and it was a wonderful experience for her that I have been quite jealous of. Our politicians talk a big game about “family values” in America, but when it comes to actually supporting working mothers (and let’s face it–in today’s economy most of us HAVE TO work) the government never puts its money where its mouth is.

Mothers in America need help–especially first-time moms. This is our nation’s children we’re talking about here, who the politicians like to proclaim are “Our Greatest National Resource.” Let’s start treating them as such by giving them the best possible start in life. To do that, let’s expand FMLA to better support working parents.

Thank you. Sincerely,

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:11 pm by Anonymous

Please do everything in your power to at minimum keep the existing FMLA. I believe, as a working mother, that FMLA should be expanded to include smaller companies and payment. When I had our son 15 months ago, I was able to take extra time because I had back problems following labor, however I was having trouble taking care of our son because my back was so bad. Even carrying his tiny 7 pounds was overwhelming for me. His father was able to take one day at his hourly job, then had to go back to work for fear of losing his job. My husband works as an aide both in the home and in workshops for developmentally disabled adults. He is underpaid and underappreciated as is, but to have to leave his newborn son with me when I could barely carry our son was simply unfair. Particularly the workers who do jobs that take incredible skill and patience, but include little monetary reward need to be able to take the time to spend with family members who are in need of assistance. Please do not scale back the FMLA. We need good people to do the thankless jobs, and unless we treat them well, we will lose them.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:18 pm by Anonymous

I have been lucky enough to work for a reasonably progressive company through birth and early years of 2 of my children. I was able to take 12-16 weeks unpaid leave and pay for it by borrowing against my 401K retirement plan. I have taken days off regularly to care for my grandfather. With an additional 4 aging parents to care for, and being from small families, my husband and I will need to help out these important, long-contributing members of our family and society.

It would have been far easier for me had paid leave been available – even paid at a disability rate. I would not have had to worry about spending the two subsequent 5 year periods paying back the loans (wouldn’t you know that my kids are 6 years apart). Yet, I know I’m lucky in that I had this opportunity.

Children are the most important thing in my life and in the life of this country. The first three years are the most important in the healthy development and socialization of children.

Please increase the availability of leave to more Americans, and enable their ability to take it by mandating paid leave.

Thanks you for your consideration

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:23 pm by Anonymous

Instead of gutting the provisions included in the existing law, now is the time to bring the FMLA in step with the 21st century and make the US again a leader in this area. Of the 168 countries surveyed in a Harvard study, the US was one of four that didn’t offer paid leave for new mothers, alongside Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papau New Guinea. This is an embarrassment to our nation.

Expand coverage to include mothers in all companies, not just those with employee counts over 50, and include provisions for paid leave. Nothing less is acceptable. I was fortunate to get on FMLA during my pregnancy and after my delivery. PLEASE, it would be a shame to cut back on the benefits that FMLA offers.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:35 pm by Anonymous

This Congress needs to enhance FMLA. There are many people who work 20-25 hours a week. All the time with benefits. However, if they need to be off work for their families or personal reason they a penelized because they do not had 1250 hours a year worked. Well they will never have that amount of time because of the hours they were hired to work. This needs to change. Many employers find ways of firing people because of the way the law was written. It’s a great law if just needs to be polished now

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:36 pm by Anonymous

My sister, single mom, raising three kids, had to take FMLA as our mother was unexpectedly hospitalized and subsequently died January 12, 2006. As my sister received no pay and her ex-husband refused to help in any way, including not supporting the kids by not attending the funeral, she struggled afterward to regain her financial base, and came close to losing her job!
While there is a law, many companies, including the one my sister worked for, don’t like it used, which put tremendous stress and strain on her during a time when she and the kids had more than enough on their platess, what with the long drives back and forth, and the unexpected shock that our Mother, their Nana, became hospitilized and died so unexpectedly.
I’m appalled that we are only one of 3 or 4 countries out of 168 that have such paltry laws in this regard. As Americans it’s time to raise caine, get involved and let politicians know this is NOT acceptable! Period! We have the power, let’s use it!
Kymm Dorward
Island Lake, IL

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 6:58 pm by Anonymous

Dear Department of Labor,
I am writing in full support of the FMLA and want it to be expanded.

The U.S. government was found to fall far short of supporting the kinds of policies American family’s value most in a recent study. I compared the U.S. to the Netherlands in terms of working parents’ ability to successfully balance family life with employment. American and Dutch families significantly differed in self perceptions of quality of life and satisfactions of government policies. U.S. parents overwhelmingly reported FMLA as doing very little to meet the needs of working parents because it is unpaid; 0% reported having made use of it. I also found U.S. mothers and fathers rated lower on quality of life measures. Mothers and fathers in each culture filled out six subscales (general quality of life and general health, positive feelings, negative feelings, self-esteem, working capacity, personal relationships, social support, financial resources, and participations in and opportunities for recreation / leisure) of the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life Questionnaire. On every facet except “self esteem”, Dutch parents rated significantly higher levels of quality of life.

When it came to family values, Americans were found to be nearly identical to their European neighbors in regard to family policy. Although the U.S. lacks many of the policies that support working families that are in place in EU member states, this study found the majority of U.S. mothers and fathers favor government spending on such policies. Nearly 90% of U.S. mothers and approximately three-quarters of U.S. fathers supported universal, federally subsidized preschool as well as guarantees for places in universal, federally subsidized child care settings; 85% of U.S. mothers and 63% of U.S. fathers supported national legislation for paid parental leave for all working Americans. This study also showed 93% of U.S. mothers and 84% of U.S. fathers support the right to reduce working hours in order to increase time at home with children.

The international trend in the 1990s has been to broaden national maternity, paternity, parental, child care, and family leave policies as well as to set standards for flexible work arrangements. European Union directives support a move toward a new welfare state model similar to the Scandinavian countries; that is, they increasingly support policies that aim to achieve universal employment which include universal and generously paid parental leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, care leave, as well as universal child care (including early childhood education and care programs) and part-time parity legislation. By contrast, the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA, 1993) is unpaid and only roughly 50% of the working population are eligible for it; of this half of working Americans, very few employees can afford to use it because it is unpaid. The U.S. government instead relies on employers to provide “family friendly policies” for working mothers and fathers; however, most employers offer little flexibility, little paid leave, and few childcare benefits (what they do offer is mostly in the way of referrals). Nearly have of all working Americans go without paid leave of any kind.

The passing of national family policies in the Netherlands has increased employment rates for women as well as opened up an avenue for more men to take part in care giving, a balance the EU is striving for. Female employment rates for prime-aged (24-54 years) populations show that the Netherlands (as well as the UK, France, Denmark, and Sweden) now surpass the U.S. (Schmitt & Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2006). Moreover, national family leave policies have not led to a decrease in national productivity levels. In fact, the World Economic Forum has recently released its “Global Competitiveness Report for 2006-2007” showing that the U.S. has dropped from first place to sixth place in national productivity level, surpassed by the Scandinavian countries (who have the most generous family leave policies in place), Switzerland, and Singapore.

The majority of Dutch mothers and fathers were pleased with the family policies passed by their government over the last ten years: 78% of Dutch mothers and 30% of Dutch fathers stated their national parental leave policy helped them maintain employment while caring for young children. The Dutch also enjoy part time parity laws which this study found made it more desirable for women to stay in the work force once they become mothers as well as made it more desirable for men to take on care giving responsibilities at home thereby increasing self perceptions of gender equality. The Dutch government has far more social policies and regulations in place to help protect working parents with young children, having implemented the kinds of policies families want. The United States government, on the other hand, has a long way to go to implement those same kinds of policies. A Dutch father who participated in the study summed it up aptly: “The gross national product does not equal a country’s wealth; the expression of wealth of a country is more an expression of the wellness of its people.”

I hope that you work to retain and expand FMLA for the sake of American families, all of whom need it and all of whom would use it if it was paid.
Sincerely,
Anmarie J. Widener, Ph.D.
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.
301-520-5090
email: awidener@umich.edu

________________________________________

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 7:18 pm by Anonymous

To whom it may concern:

The FMLA should be expanded, not curtailed. The US is one of the four weakest laws in support of new families. Support family values and expand the FLMA to a longer paid leave.

I am a professional woman, highly paid, working in the high tech sector. I struggled long and hard over the question of raising a family, and decided not to have children because there was no support structure, and I couldn’t see having a child to hand it over to someone else to raise after three weeks. I have an IQ last tested at 158. It seems that these are traits that one would want to pass on to future generations. I am not alone in my decision, I know many other intelligent females that have decided not to have children for the same reasons. Frankly, US policies are selecting against intelligence in future generations.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 7:37 pm by Anonymous

There is no doubt in my mind and experience that the bond between mother and child are most crucially formed in the first few weeks and months of contact, whether it be via birth or adoption. If it is via birth, then another crucial requirement is the need for breast feeding or nursing, which has time after time been proven to be best for the short and longterm health and development of the child.

These two factors become impossible or at best, are fundamentally challenged if the mother is made to go back to work immediately. This is also the case for fathers who are just as important in terms of supporthing the process and requiring bonding time.

In our “first world” country, where most large employers and corporations are making ample profits – as evidenced by the outrageous salaries of their CEO’s, the health and wellbeing of our children should be something they are only too happy to consider and be willing to pay for. Long term this can only benefit their bottom line by having happy employees, who are able to work as they have healthy and happy families. Corporations take enough from American families in the form of time away. It is time they gave back to those families and society by giving them adequate and fully supported family leave.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 7:52 pm by Anonymous

everyone – I think it’s a good idea to c.c. your elected representatives as well…email follows:

I’ve heard that you are asking for public feedback on FMLA, specifically whether it should be scaled back.

That would be a crime to every newborn, vulnerable baby in this country. I’ve recently used FMLA to stay at home with my now 9 month old baby. I was able to take some of the time as paid leave, and some as unpaid. My husband was then also able to use FMLA for an additional month, so we didn’t have to put our baby in daycare until he was 4 months old. We were very fortunate, and it is because of this federal legislation.

However, four months is still too young to put newborns into a group setting. They are the most susceptible to colds and viruses – our own 9 month old has had a wheezing cough most of this winter that he can’t quite get rid of, because once he gets a little better he catches another cold, and this is directly related to being exposed to other children at daycare. Unlike toddlers, newborn babies do not gain knowledge or skills from group experiences – indeed, most pediatricians recommend one-on-one, at home attention for newborns so that they feel secure. This sense of security enables them as toddlers and then preschoolers to learn and explore their world.

There is also a toll on parents – especially mothers – when they have to return to work too early after having a newborn baby. Most new mothers are primarily focused on their babies, and this cuts down on their work productivity. Many hours in the work day are lost when newborn babies are placed in daycare too soon, as either the mother or father may have to leave work early to pick up their sick child (this has the side effect of increased work absenteeism).

Bottom line: forcing either a mother or father to return to work with a newborn baby is bad for the baby, bad for the parents and ultimately bad for the employer in increased absenteeism and lower worker productivity and job satisfaction.

If we want to have a truly competitive workforce, we need to EXPAND FMLA, not scale it back. Minimally, parents of newborns should have 3 months paid leave and 3 months unpaid leave, so that two parents combined could have the option of not putting their baby into daycare until the baby is 12 months old, at which point the child will have less susceptibility to illness and will actually benefit from a larger social environment.

I feel so passionately about this that I am going to forward this same email to my Congressman, Chris Murphy, and my two Senators, Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd, to see if they can work on passing legislation that will expand FMLA and protect young family and vulnerable infants.

I hope they contact your office soon.

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January 10, 2007 at 7:57 pm by Anonymous

I had both my children before the family leave law was enacted. My first child my company was flexible and allowed me to take 3 months leave of absence. With my second child, I had planned a six month leave of absence. Three weeks after giving birth, my company was sold and the new owner told me I could have six weeks (the amount allowed under disability) and that was it. If I could not return in six weeks, they would have to fill my job. That left me with less then 3 weeks to find child care and introduce my son to a bottle (he had been exclusively breast fed). Our family relied on both our salaries. After much consideration, we decided that my being home was just too important. I asked for at least three months leave. It was denied; and I lost my job. It was a struggle but fortunately I was able to find a part time job; and we were able to get by.

A year and half later, we found out I had a congenital heart defect and needed to have heart surgery immediately. After having heart surgery I would be unable to pick up my children (at the time 1 ½ and 3) for six weeks. I live outside of Philadelphia, but due to the rarity of my heart condition I had to have my heart surgery at Johns Hopkins. We were fortunate to have family volunteer to care for my children while I was in the hospital so that my husband could be with me and some family to volunteer for a few weeks afterward. I was not able, however, to have family care for my children for six weeks. My husband did not have enough vacation time to take off from work to care for me and the kids. Fortunately, there was family leave and he asked his employer for family leave time. It was a blessing for this time not to have to choose between spending time caring for a family member and your job.

A year after that both of my husband’s parents had cancer. His mother remarkably defied the odds and survived her second round of breast cancer. His father was not so fortunate. He needed rides to and from the hospital for treatment. My mother in law was not well enough to drive him. Of course, they could have asked social services for transportation. My husband was fortunate enough again that his company gave him more family leave time to take time to take his dad for his treatments. Sadly, his dad only lived three months after the diagnosis. My husband was grateful for every additional minute he was able to get with his dad.

Work is important and we value our careers. But family always should and always will come first. Family leave law makes it possible for families to be able to take the time when needed to care for a family member without fear of losing their job.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 7:59 pm by Anonymous

To whom it may concern:

Three years ago, when I gave birth to my daughter, I was able to take 12 weeks of leave. Six weeks of it were partially paid through short-term disability. Covering those weeks of lost income was a real hardship for my family. My daughter had medical difficulties, and three months of leave were not enough to figure out treatments for her, let alone to help her adapt.

Next year, when my husband and I bring home the three-children sibling group we are adopting, we will receive NO paid leave. Paying for any leave we take will be tremendously difficult, especially after paying for the staggering costs of adoption. But we feel it is critical for the long-term good of society to take as much as leave as we are able. To go immediately back to work after bringing home three frightened toddlers will simply create problems that society will end up paying for down the road.

In order to have functional, well-adjusted citizens who contribute to our society, we need to let parents parent. Please extend Paid Family Medical Leave. It is critical for the good of our society.

Mary Gaasch and Matthew Koncar
1736 Malvern Street Lauderdale, MN 55113

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 8:02 pm by Anonymous

I strongly encourage you to expand FMLA, not reduce it. Instead of reviewing a program which is already working well, the Department of Labor should be putting energy into expanding the FMLA to cover more workers (only 46.5% of private sector workers are currently covered under the law because it only applies to those who work in companies with 50 or more employees), and into making paid family and medical leave available to all. I have friends that were forced to take short term disability when they had their children. Why is childbirth considered a disability? This is crazy. We be allowed to take FMLA to have children, adopt, or take care of family members. Right now our baby boomer population is entering retirement age. If anything, employees will need FMLA more in the future not less.

Please do not succumb to pressure of businesses saying that FMLA costs too much. It costs companies more when they lose employees than when employees take FMLA. In California, the only state with paid family leave, the funding for paid leave comes from a small employee paycheck deduction, not out of the pocket of businesses. I would support this!

Jennifer Trich Kremer

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January 10, 2007 at 8:29 pm by Anonymous

I am writing to encourage you to expand the FMLA, which is so important for the well-being of families with sick members and of infants, who are the future of our country, as well as for the well-being of their mothers.

When I had my first child, I had an emergency C-section that later required me to be on bed-rest. Had my husband not had the luxury of paid leave, we would not have been able to afford for him to stay home and take care of both his son and myself. I cannot imagine what we would have done! Perhaps I would have had to make do on my own, and then, most likely I would have had other complications with long-term effects that would have required my husband’s presence even more, later on.

It is important to know your job will be waiting when you get back, and this right should be extended to ALL workers, not just those in larger companies. But it is most helpful if the leave is paid because, frankly, with the cost of living and what people who would benefit from FMLA are making these days, who can afford not getting paid for any length of time? ESPECIALLY with all the added expenses of a new baby or an illness in the family.

The FMLA is crucial for families, for the well-being of our society, for taking care of newborns and their mothers, of those who are sick. As a society, we MUST be committed to helping families be healthy and care for their members. A paid FMLA would do that and be worth it even if the cost were huge, which it is not in other more advanced countries, and if the California model were used, then employees themselves would pay for it in the long-run. Please expand the FMLA so that it is paid!

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 8:37 pm by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing in support of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). I understand that it may be scaled back. I think it should be kept as it is or made stronger. Our country is only as strong as its families, and this act helps to maintain strong family bonds.

For me, this act meant unpaid maternity leave at the private Quaker school where I worked when my son was born. Before FMLA, I would have had to go back to work only 8 weeks after his birth. I am a strong supporter of breastfeeding, and much research recently has shown that especially at this young age, it is very important. If I had been forced to go back to work as an elementary school teacher only 8 weeks after my sons birth, not only would it have been difficult, but it would have been virtually impossible to continue to exclusively breastfeed (as the health department recommends for tiny babies this age.)

Not only that, but I also suffer from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I found the beginning stages of motherhood with an infant to be absolutely exhausting. I could not have returned to work after only 8 weeks. I was so thankful for the FMLA.

Please keep this act in place or make it stronger. There are thousands of moms like me who will be better mothers because of it.
Lela Betts

Wyndmoor, PA 19038

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 8:43 pm by Anonymous

In 1996, I came down with rheumatoid arthritis very suddenly. I was unable to work for 5 months and then only able to return half time. Without a combination
of FMLA and Oregon Family Leave I would have been unable to support myself and would have had the additional stress of job loss on top of a severe medical condition.
With the FMLA, I was able to use my accrued sick leave and vacation to keep my income coming and to protect my job. Being a single adult, I don’t know what I would have done without it. As more and more of my generation face taking care of ailing parents or their own increased risk of severe illness, it is critical that we maintain or expand our medical leave. The last thing that new parents, supportive children or sick adults need is the concern that in addition to their other problems they could loose their jobs or be unable to help when that help is desperately needed. As a society, we need to be offering more support, not less, to our citizens.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 9:09 pm by Anonymous

I am a professional woman (a physician) and a veteran with 2 children. I have lived in Germany for 3 years and England for 4. Europe is centuries ahead of us on this: their policies demonstrate that children are important and should be raised by their parents; especially mothers, instead of enduring long hours of day care especially at an early age. It is time the US also has stronger policies recognizing the value to the nation of parents especially mothers staying at home with their children for the first few weeks months or years without fully ending their working careers. I expect that mothers now unable to stay home for long with their infants are just the sort of high earning intelligent people we wish would produce many children and high earning future taxpayers rather than the one or two they limit their family to because of the hardships of childrearing.

I ended my military career because I could not stay home longer than the 6 weeks maternity leave with my (first) child. I might still be a soldier had I been able to take a year’s unpaid leave with each childbirth. Furthermore even the six weeks leave I received was awarded resentfully and with some harassment for actually taking the full allowance of maternity leave. More supportive laws would lead to more supportive workplaces. Personally I have enough wealth to choose to not work (as I did for a year after my second child was born) once I resigned my military commission but many American working mothers are already only one or two paychecks from bankruptcy. Denying the option of fiscal solvency and attentive early parenting no matter what the family circumstances is cruel and demonstrates how little we value small children in this country.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 9:27 pm by Anonymous

It is my understanding that the Department of Labor is reviewing the FMLA. I would like to share my own experience with the FMLA and urge the department to not only keep the FMLA in place but to expand it.

The FMLA made it possible for me, in 2000 and 2003, to take care of my two children full time during their first precious months of life. Spending 5 months at home with the kids (2 weeks of vacation, 2 weeks of short-term disability pay, 12 weeks of FMLA leave, and an extra 4 weeks as required by the District of Columbia) was tremendously rewarding, even though it also entailed more work than any office could throw at me! The entire family was settled in and able to make a good transition each time it was time for me to return to work. We were able to pay the bills then despite the leave being unpaid because my husband, who works in the field of real estate, had as much work as he could handle at those times. His business has slowed down precipitously recently with the housing slowdown, so we’re lucky that we’re not expecting now. Without my paycheck, the family wouldn’t be able to keep afloat.

Plenty of lip service is given to the importance of the family in this country, but when it comes to actually creating a family, the lack of support for new parents is really astonishing. Of the 168 countries analyzed in a recent Harvard study, the United States was among four–four!–that didn’t offer some sort of paid leave for parents. Each baby is unique, but all of them are expensive to have, to clothe, to care for, and to raise.

To support family values, the government needs to recognize the value of families. Please help support families by first retaining the FMLA, and then by considering its expansion to encompass some sort of paid leave so that workers aren’t forced to choose between retaining a job and giving a family member the attention and assistance that he or she needs.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 9:30 pm by Anonymous

The FLMA is crucially important to the families of the US. It is good business and good policy to allow women time off to take care of their families when children are born. The policy is the most bare bones that we can expect from our govenment and in fact needs to be expanded greatly, not cut back. We must join the rest of the industrialized countries of the world in providing support for parents so they can take care of their families and work. It can only help the families of this country.

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 9:34 pm by Anonymous

As a member of MomsRising, I’ve heard that the Dept. of Labor is considering scaling back the FMLA.

I’m practically speechless at this possibility, but I’ll do my best to put thoughts into words.

Any reasonable person, if they knew anything at all about the wider world, would have to consider the current FMLA *barely* passable. It’s so common in other countries for parents to get ONE YEAR of leave, and it’s not uncommon for at least some of that leave to be PAID. A Harvard study of 168 countries found that only 4 don’t offer some form of paid leave for new mothers – Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Lesotho, and the United States of America. Would you ever have thought that the US would be in the same sentence with those other 3 countries? How embarassing that in the US, we only get “up to” 12 weeks, and that’s unpaid, and only if you work for a company with more than 50 employees. Good heavens. We’re the richest country in the world, and we can’t do better than that for the moms and dads who are trying to care for new babies (or family members who are ill) and still pay the rent?

Thanks for giving citizens the opportunity to comment. I hope you get an earful!

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 9:47 pm by Anonymous

I worked for Disney for over 7 years (family friendly company..my butt!), and had my first child in December of 2000. I took my 6 weeks of maternity by using 3 weeks of vacation time and all of my sick/personal holidays that I had accumuliated during those 7 years. In that time, a person my JUNIOR (who has no kids) took over my position while I was out and OUT RANKED me while I was gone on maternity leave. Needless to say, when I got back and realized what was going on (I stayed about 6 months more) I asked my supervisor what the heck was happening! I didn’t get a straight up answer so I gave my notice. Now when I go to the “happiest place on earth” I don’t get any discounts, but I don’t have the “cast member” stigma hanging over me either I miss my job and being a part of the “working poor” but it gets me mad when I think about what has happened!
Jen

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:04 pm by Anonymous

The family medical leave act is definitely a good policy for American families.

Prior to my going out on maternity leave I had completed all the related paper-work including the one for the FMLA, I told my boss that I did not think I would use the FMLA benefit but was completing it just in case.

Fast forward approx. 2 weeks later, my son was born, he had a close to perfect apgar scores but within 1/2 hour of his birth he was rushed to the Neonatal intensive care unit not only was he low birth weight he also had jaundice and some rispitory issues. We pretty much spent the first week of his life in the hospital. Under my company’s short term disability benefit, this left me with 5 weeks at home to care for and bond with my baby.
Without the family medical leave act I am not sure what I would have done. After the 6 wks short term disability period had expired, I was not emotionally ready to go back to work, my son, a little over a month old was still on the smaller side and needed all the care, love and attention from his mom after his traumatic first weeks. It seemed cruel and unjust to entrust such a tiny fragile infant to the care of anyone but his loving mother.
I was very grateful to have had the option of extending my leave under the FMLA to care for my child. Could it have been longer? Most certainly, the FMLA should be 3 months at the very least and should be available to ALL workers not just those who work for large corporations. It was never my intention to be a stay at home mom but I did appreciate the time I had to take care of my child; every mother should have this option.

I urge you not to consider scaling back this policy.
Parent should not have to choose between their job and their children. We should all have the option of taking the time needed to care for our children without the fear of losing our jobs.

R.C. Harlem, NY

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:22 pm by Anonymous

I am in support of this important legislation that provides families the opportunity to maintain the health and well being of the citizens of this country. It is embarrassing to live in a nation that doesn’t recognize the importance of “family values” that actually matter. The physical and emotional well being of newborns and the ill should be of the utmost importance to every member of congress.
As a mother of two children under the age of 3, I am very concerned as I see the working parents I know struggling to raise their children in work environments that are not supportive of family needs.

Please ensure that parents will be allowed to take the time off work needed to create healthy families. Furthermore, please take steps to increase the benefits so that this leave of absence can be compensated in some way.

Sincerely,
Michelle Harris
Skokie, IL

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:34 pm by Anonymous

To the Department of Labor,

I am a mother, a teacher, and a PhD candidate. Having had the experience, as a graduate student, of being pressured to return full-time to work and study just 5 days after bringing my new-born son home from neonatal infant care (just 10 days after what proved to be a arduous birth for both of us, and just 5 weeks after my own hospitalization for pregnancy complications), I know first hand what it means for women to bring children into the world with no legal guarantee of the right to maternity leave: stress for the child and for the family, and exhaustion and a depletion of the mother’s energies, with long term repercussions for her work productivity, and, in turn, income.

The Family and Medical Leave Act is good for families and businesses. It needs to be protected and improved upon–not scaled back. As things stand now, the FMLA is unpaid leave, and only applies to those who work for larger companies–making the US one of only 4 countries in the world that do not offer some form of leave to new mothers–along with Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Lesotho. 

Among industrialized nations, the US one of only two countries not to offer paid leave. The other, Australia, nonetheless guarantees a full year of unpaid leave–compared to the 12 weeks of unpaid leave offered to American parents employed by companies with more than 50 workers, under present FMLA statutes.

Current conditions for mothers in the US result in an average lifetime income loss (what some have taken to calling “the mommy tax”) of over 1 million dollars–a situation which impacts not only the lives of nearly half our adult citizens (women with children–the majority of women in this country are mothers–and those who opt not to jeopardize their professional futures and economic stability by starting families), but the entire economic structure of family life–for children and fathers, as well as mothers.  The wage gap between mothers and non-mothers is greater than between women and men—and growing. Non-mothers earn 10 percent less than their male counterparts; mothers earn 27 percent less; single mothers earn 34 to 44 percent less. (these and other statistics cited may be found a momsrising.org). Lack of paid, guaranteed parental leave is one of several factors underpinning this gross economic inequity.

Expansion of the FMLA would constitute a major step toward rectifying what is currently shameful, national family crisis. Please: stand up for the rights of women and their families.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Syssoyeva

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:39 pm by Anonymous

I am writing today in regards to the Family and Medical Leave Act. I absoulutely support this law and hope to see it expanded. It is appalling that we are the only major industrialized nation that does not have some sort of paid leave for mothers, or those facing family or personal health issues. This law is absolutely essential for the protection and support of our families here in the United States. I hope to see the Department of Labor expand this law to smaller companies as well, so that more families can benefit from it. Support Communities, Support Families, Support the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Gaona

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:42 pm by David Hurlburt

One Sick Kin Away From Being Fired

It is hard for a family to make both ends meet
Both of us working so we are not on the street
Minimum wage workers need every single dime
They also need some emergency kin care time

We come home at night and we’re so tired
Just one sick child away from being fired

Why can’t we use sick leave to care for our kin
When the Bosses fires us for that is a just a sin
Not any time off, with or without pay, for short time family care
When the roll is called up yonder will these managers be there?

We come home at night and we’re so tired
Just one sick spouse away from being fired

Companies protect and defend at all costs their mighty corporate rights
So when you take time off for your family, be prepared to join the fights
Working families, we need to lobby congress and the legislatures too.
We need a law so are jobs are protected when our child gets the flu.

We come home at night and we’re so tired
Just one sick parent away from being fired

Providing time for families doesn’t cost it will pay
It reduces turnover because more employees stay
It, increases loyalty, dedication and it is caring and kind
A benefit employees value and it’s one that’s hard to find

We come home at night and we’re so tired
Just one sick self away from being fired

By David G. Hurlburt CWA local 9410

[Reply]

January 10, 2007 at 10:47 pm by David Hurlburt

To the tune of Hank Williams Sr. Cold Cold Heart
Melt Verizon’s Cold, Cold Heart

Give Kara De Witt her job back, we make this our solemn vow.
Parents of America shout “Verizon can you hear us Now!”
In October you told her be here each day at her time to start!
Why don’t you hire her back today and melt your cold, cold heart!

We’re here to today because of Kara and all working parents too!
Two infants at home, a husband in Iraq, what is a mother to do?
Stress was overwhelming from work and home just for a start.
Why don’t you care about families, and melt your cold, cold heart!

She cared for her children alone while she hoped and prayed.
Then not once but many times her husband’s return was delayed.
The uncertain feelings of worry would her husband forever part.
Why don’t you care about families, and melt your cold, cold heart!

When he returned after 19 months and she got Sick and Blue.
She is an amazing woman with all that she went through.
No vacation, or accommodations is that flexibility on your part?
Why don’t you care about families, and melt your cold, cold heart!

Why is it so hard for Verizon to be fair to their employees.
Let them take the time they need to care for their families.
Hire Kara Back with full back pay would be a very good start
Why don’t you care about families and melt your cold, cold heart!

By David Hurlburt CWA local 9410

The original words To, Hank William’s SR. Cold, Cold Heart

I tried so hard my dear to show that you’re my every dream.
Yet you’re afraid each thing I do is just some evil scheme
A memory from your lonesome past keeps us so far apart
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart

Another love before my time made your heart sad and blue
And so my heart is paying now for things I didn’t do
In anger unkind words are said that make the teardrops start
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind, and melt your cold cold heart

You’ll never know how much it hurts to see you sat and cry
You know you need and want my love yet you’re afraid to try
Why do you run and hide from lies, to try it just ain’t smart
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart

There was a time when I believed that you belonged to me
But now I know your heart is shackled to a memory
The more I learn to care for you, the more we drift apart
Why can’t I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart
Top 5 — Hank Williams Lyrics

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January 10, 2007 at 10:51 pm by David Hurlburt

Single By Choice, Now the New AT&T, Applicants with Family Members need not apply

I asked my boss for a day off, because my child was sick.
I said make it a sick day, vacation, or you can pick.
She said hire a nurse or get some one else to stay!
Come to work right now or you will get no pay!

I weighed the choice she gave me, it was oh so very clear,
My darling baby daughter needed her mother to be near.
So I stayed home after we went to see the Doc
Loosing one days pay would only put me in hock.

To my surprise, on my return she was now going to write me up!
I was now to be on attendance control and better not screw up.
The next absence, a suspension and a couple of days without pay
For taking care of my baby daughter this is just not fair I say.

There ought to be a law to stop policies like that!
I went to see the union and to have a little chat!
I found out there is a law in California, labor code 2 3 3
It says I get to use sick days to care for my family.

There is another new law, labor code section 2 3 4
Companies can’t count family absences to fire you any more.
The Court said AT&T can do it; there’s a loop hole in the law
AT&T paid millions to win, yet in their heart there’s still a flaw.

The flaw the judge says at AT&T sick leave does not accrue
It is just another case at AT&T of Ma Bell screwing you
It is our right to time that’s important we want the Guarantee
Of Time they can’t refuse or take away to care for our Families

Not any time off with pay for short term family care
When the roll is called up yonder AT&T will not be there
Let us use our vacation, Paid time off or floating holidays
That a supervisor can’t refuse us or try to take away

AT&T will defend at all costs their mighty corporate rights
If you take time for your family be prepared to join the fights
Working families, we need to lobby congress and the legislatures too.
We need a law so our jobs are protected when our children get the flu.

The AT&T Corporation was created with a flaw right at the start
Unlike the Tin Man who wanted one; they just don’t have a heart
Not any paid time off for the family that they can not take away
No vacation, Paid time off or unpaid time; it is just not right I say

No, No, says the Boss our sick leave is only just for you.
We won’t pay you and you can’t use your vacation too.
You better be here every day; we have work for you to do.
Or with our attendance control we’ll just get rid of you.

The ideal employee is one who is Single By Choice.
Company employees should sing in one single voice.
We did not hire your Family, not mom, dad, husband or wife.
No Family commitments! Now that’s for all your working life.

S B C Company now the new AT&T, No family members need apply.
You must be here each and every day until you retire or die!

By David G. Hurlburt, CWA Local 9410 Steward

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January 10, 2007 at 11:04 pm by Anonymous

I used Family Leave twice with my two kids, and was so grateful that I could be home with them for 12 weeks. More would have been better. Paid would have been better. Including employees of smaller businesses would be better. PLEASE don’t scale back FMLA. Expand it to include more of our mothers and children.

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January 10, 2007 at 11:33 pm by Anonymous

If you can’t find “enough” people who have benefited from FMLA, it isn’t because people don’t need or want it. It is because when the choice comes down to short-term food and housing vs. long-term health, most people choose the food.

Four years ago I was first asked if I had personally felt a need for paid family and medical leave. I firmly answered “No, I have been lucky. Although my family has faced many problems, I had a wonderful employer and that made all the difference.” But then I remembered a time about 10 years ago, when I was the mother of a 7 year old and a 4 year old.

I had managed, just the year before, to leave the alcoholic, pot-addicted father of my children. Because this man rarely worked over-the-table or for very long, I received very little child support. I had a good job with a local company as a software developer. This meant that the two kids and I were able to live in a decent but small apartment. My job also provided good health insurance. This was vital as my daughter is disabled.

Back then, I knew that my 4-year-old daughter was paralyzed from the knees down. I knew that she would never walk — she already owned a wheelchair. I knew that she would never have bowel or bladder control. But what I was just starting to learn was that a major brain surgery she had when she was 3 weeks old had left her brain damaged; her severe learning disabilities were just starting to show up. Although she attended early childhood education classes through the school system, her teachers made it clear that she needed more one-on-one education and therapy than there was time for at school. But because my job required frequent overtime, I often could not pick her up from childcare until 6:00. There was no time left for at-home therapies.

My son had just entered 2nd grade, and the number of people who told me he needed to be evaluated for ADHD increased dramatically. I found him a psychiatrist and a child therapist, and the diagnosis was severe ADHD with depression. Medication and regular therapy helped a lot, but he was still a very angry kid who hated school and would readily make threats of violence against me. But, as with my daughter, I only saw him at home from 6 pm until bedtime on weeknights. On weekends, I often worked at home to make up for all the time I had to miss during the week talking with teachers, and taking the kids to doctor and therapy appointments. (My daughter’s doctors were in a city 100 miles away, and I had to spend all day there about once every other month).

Both of my children’s schools were putting pressure on me to do more with them at home. A part-time job was not an option for me, as not only did we need the money from full-time work, we also needed the health insurance.

Then my daughter got sick. She needed surgery on her spine, and she would be in the hospital in that distant city for at least a week. We scheduled the surgery for over the winter break so that my son could stay with relatives and so it would be after a main “crunch time” at work. And while I was at my daughter’s hospital bedside, unable to relieve the agony that even morphine couldn’t help, I worked.

I had the best boss in the world. The company I worked for was as understanding and helpful as any company I’ve run across. They did remind me about FMLA. Unpaid leave. But with a credit debt already in the 5 figures, I could not cut off my only income.

I have a B.S. degree from a major university. I was a tech worker when tech workers were in demand in a tech-oriented city. I worked at an understanding business in a salaried position and was given a great deal of leeway in choosing the hours to work to get my job done.

Yet even with all this going for me, there was a time that I could not meet the physical and mental health care needs of my family without quitting my job and going on welfare. I chose not to quit. While I don’t believe going onto welfare would have been the better choice, I know that we all still carry scars from that time. My own health deteriorated rapidly in the next years; so much so that I do not believe I will ever again be able to hold down a full-time professional job. My daughter’s lack of educational and physical therapy at that crucial point in her life can never be made up; her brain’s critical period for some of these activities has closed. It has taken intensive (and expensive) tutoring to get her learning skills to the point where we can have hope that she can have a government-assisted job and live in a group home. And my son, only 18, has already gone through drug rehab.

So yes, FMLA needs to change. But not to make it fail even more people. It needs to start working.

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January 10, 2007 at 11:42 pm by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern,

I want to send a message of support for the Family and Medical Leave Act and the implementation of a Paid Leave Law in the United States. Despite my college education and impeccable work history, I am a single mother with one child who often feels our future remains uncertain at best. The health and development of my child is a top priority and in the event we were confronted with an unfortunate situation, an absence of time and income from my job could have devestating consequences. It’s time for the United States to stand behind family friendly policies if we are to grow as a strong and united nation.

Sincerely,

Tracy Rouse
4422 Douglas Street
Omaha, NE 68131

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January 11, 2007 at 12:02 am by Anonymous

My daughter was born with birth defects that required immediate emergency surgery to save her life. She had a total of five corrective surgeries before she was two years-old … three of those five surgeries took place before she was two MONTHS old. If I had not been able to take Medical leave from my job, I don’t know what I would have done.

The downside to this was that my leave was unpaid because my company has less than 50 employees. My daughter spent so much time in neonatal intensive care (and in the hospital for her follow-up surgeries) that I ended up being out of work for almost three months. I barely scraped by, and am still suffering from the loss of income I incurred then … 1/4 of a year’s salary.

When my daughter developed an RSV infection at seven months of age that resulted in her being hospitalized for almost a month (the first two weeks of which were spent in an oxygen tent), I had to use all of my sick time for the following TWO YEARS in order to avoid another loss of income. To this day I do not have any sick time available to me, so every doctor’s appointment, illness or injury comes directly out of what little vacation time I have, or I go without pay.

One of my co-workers was back to work THREE DAYS after the birth of her third child (by c-section, no less!!) because she was a single mother and she simply could not afford to lose any of her income.

The facts are that no mother I have EVER spoken to was happy about having to leave their child so soon and return to work. Often, mothers feel that the bond with their child was compromised to a degree because of this. Could this be one reason behind the escalating rates of violence and crime?? Could we trace it back to a premature strain on the parent-child bond at too young of an age??

Two or three months old is WAY too young to leave a child in the hands of virtual strangers for 8 – 10 hours every day, but this is exactly what far too many mothers are forced to do in order to provide for their families. In that scenario, your child only gets to see you on nights and weekends. That simply ISN’T RIGHT.

We need to EXPAND the FMLA, not slash it to bits!

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January 11, 2007 at 12:05 am by Anonymous

I’d like to comment on the upcoming renewal of FMLA.
I work with mothers of very young children, supporting them as they learn to breastfeed. It saddens me that all too often, women barely get the hang of breastfeeding before they are forced to go back to work. Mothering an infant while working full time is extremely difficult. Mothering, pumping milk, and working full time is the equivalent of working 2 1/2 full time jobs.

Our nation’s children do not need to be in day care ten hours a day starting at twelve weeks old. They need to be with their mothers, receiving the bonding and immune benefits of breastmilk AT THE MOTHERS BREAST. Every mother s hould have the right to stay home with her baby for at least the first six months, if not the first year of the baby’s life. The US American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that every baby breastfeed at least for the first year of life.

You should be supporting that goal by making it easier for women to stay home with young children, not harder.

Thank you.

Betsy Hoffmeister
Seattle, WA
Mother of two
Independent business owner
Community volunteer.

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January 11, 2007 at 2:36 am by Anonymous

To Whom It Concerns at the US Department of Labor,

I understand that the US Dept of Labor is reviewing the FMLA and is receiving comments on this important law to American families. I’d like to emphatically state that the FMLA is a good start, but we can do better. The ability for parents to take leave without fear of loosing their job is important. The infant mortality rate in America is not improving and is well behind European countries. Paid family leave and job protection have been shown to have a significant effect on improving infant health and decreasing infant mortality according to an Economic Journal report.

Instead of reviewing a program which is already working well, the Department of Labor should be putting energy into expanding the FMLA to cover more workers (only 46.5% of private sector workers are currently covered under the law because it only applies to those who work in companies with 50 or more employees), and into making paid family and medical leave available to all.

In California, the only state with paid family leave, the funding for paid leave comes from a small employee paycheck deduction, not out of the pocket of businesses. This example proves that paid leave need not be a burden for businesses or the US economy.

While I was able to take full advantage of the 12-week unpaid maternity leave allowed by my employer, it was excruciatingly hard to go back to work and leave my infant in the care of another. Plus I was thrust back into a working environment which provided no support for breastfeeding mothers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is 6 months of age. How are American women supposed to fulfill this incredibly important role as sole nurturer for their infants and the next generation of Americans without support from our society?

The US Dept of Labor does need to review the FMLA and make a concerted effort to strengthen this law to adequately protect infant health by providing PAID leave and job security to all new parents in this country.

Thank you,
Heather Phipps
Washington, DC

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January 11, 2007 at 8:33 am by Anonymous

Richard M. Brennan
Senior Regulatory Officer, Wage and Hour Division
Employment Standards Administration
U.S. Department of Labor
Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20210.

Dear Officer Brennan,
You must not only work to retain the Family and Medical Leave Act, you must consider expanding it to better meet the needs of today’s families. Expand the FMLA to cover more workers; establish paid family and medical leave, and ensure a minimum standard of paid sick days, available to all.

The Department of Labor, and all government agencies work on the behalf of the people. Not the other way around. Each agency should also be expected to work in concert with other government agencies when setting policy.

If one representative agency is going to launch a campaign to aggressively promote breastfeeding – such as the recent one conducted by the Office on Women’s Health in the Dept of Health and Human Services that equated NOT breastfeeding with smoking during pregnancy – then the Department of Labor’s policies must support this mandate.

If the US government is earnest in urging mothers to exclusively nurse for a minimum of six months and in restoring a culture of breastfeeding in this country, they should initiate real programs that will support it – and first among those programs is family leave, a program that is already successful.

The landscape of this country has already changed, our policies should reflect that change.

Sincerely,

Lisa Duggan and Shirley Alvarez Taybron
The MotherHood

–
The MotherHood
Lisa Duggan, Publisher
973-223-0790
Shirley Alvarez Taybron, Director of Advertising
973-476-9795
American Woman Publishing LLC
Maplewood, NJ 07040
http://www.themotherhoodmagazine.com
themotherhood@comcast.net

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January 11, 2007 at 8:51 am by Anonymous

Please support the Family Medical Leave Act for all US workers and help expand the program to include paid leave. When my son was born I was very lucky to work for a large university where Family Medical Leave was available. However, because it is unpaid leave, I would not have been able to take advantage of the Family Medical Leave Act if I had not had any personal leave saved up as my family could not survive without my paycheck, especially after hospital costs associated with birth.

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January 11, 2007 at 9:22 am by Anonymous

Hello there,
I understand you are seeking comments for the Family and Medical Leave Act. If anything should happen regarding family and medical leave, it should be expanded to include all employers with 10 or more empolyees, and a paid component (6-12 weeks paid). As a breastfeeding counselor with La Leche League International, I can attest that a mother needs to spend time round the clock with her baby in the early weeks to ensure a successful breastfeeding relationship (good milk supply, good latch, good weight gain). All too often I speak with mothers who would like to stay home with their newborns if they could, but economically they must go back to work. It is nearly impossible to combine full-time out of home work with breastfeeding in the early months postpartum.

Our government should do everything in its power to support breastfeeding mothers, both to reduce infant mortality rates (which are high in the US compared with other industrialized countries with more family-friendly parental leave policies), and to ensure the best outcomes for these children and mothers. Breastfeeding has a host of medical benefits, including reduced cancer rates later in life and reduced risk of hemmorage and post-partum depression for the mother. Though no one likes to talk about it (least of all those mothers who were unable to successfully breastfeed because they couldn’t spend enough time with their baby in the early months postpartum), formula-fed babies are at greater risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), respiratory illness, and ear infections in the first year, and obesity, asthma, allergies, and Type II diabetes later in life. The World Health Organization recommends breastmilk as the exclusive infant food for the first six months, and up to age two and beyond, to promote optimal infant and maternal health outcomes. Strenghtening the Family and Medical Leave Act to include paid leave for as many new mothers as possible will support breastfeeding initiation and duration. TIME is a family value!!! Please give our mothers financial support to spend at least the first three months with their babies.

Thank you,
Susan Donohoe
La Leche League of Dedham
lllofdedham@hotmail.com

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January 11, 2007 at 9:51 am by Anonymous

FMLA is so important to new parents. Please do not scale it down by any means. In fact, it needs to be the subject of serious remodificiations by allowing parents to have paid time off from work without the worry of losing their jobs or not being able to pay their bills. When infants are born, they need to be with their parents and parents need to be with their newborns! What else can I say that everyone else on this board hasn’t already said? PLEASE DO NOT SCALE DOWN THE FMLA LAW! PLEASE EXPAND IT SO THAT THE UNITED STATES JOIN THE SO MANY OTHER COUNTRIES THAT ALREADY KNOW HOW VALUABLE AND IMPORTANT FAMILY IS!

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January 11, 2007 at 10:10 am by Anonymous

The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 is a good start to support families in the United States, but it is woefully inadequate. This program needs to be supported and expanded, not scaled back.

The United States is only one of 4 countries that doesn’t offer some kind of paid maternity leave after the birth of a child. And we’re not in good company. The four countries are Paupa New Guinea, Swaziland, Lesotho, and the United States of America.

The Healthy People 2010 goals for the United States include increasing the number of mothers who initiate breastfeeding and increasing the number of mothers who are exclusively breastfeeding at six months of age. While the number of Moms initiating breastfeeding has increased, the numbers of mothers exclusively breastfeeding at six months is still very, very low, far below the goals set. The reason for this is directly related to inadequate leave for new mothers. Establishing breastfeeding takes time. In my circumstance, a difficult hospital birth got my son and I off on a poor start for breastfeeding. I was committed, I had family and community support, and I had ten weeks of unpaid leave, eight of which ended up being paid by short term disability insurance. Many women do not have either unpaid leave, as FMLA only applies to companies with more than 50 workers, or any paid leave at all, as many employers do not offer short term disability insurance. Even with all the support I had, it took seven weeks for breastfeeding to become manageable. Had I not been able to take that time away from work, the pressures of returning to work so quickly would have forced me to wean my son prematurely.

As I’m sure you’re aware, breastfeeding provides both short and long term health benefits to both mothers and babies. Establishing paid maternity leave of only six weeks for all new mothers would allow women the chance to establish breastfeeding, thus reducing the incidence of ear infections in thier infants, reducing the incidence of childhood leukemia, and reducing the incidence of obesity and diabetes in later life. In addition, long term breastfeeding reduces a woman’s chance of breast cancer. The financial savings from reducing the incidence of these diseases and others should easily offset the cost of maternity leave for all America’s mothers. Even so, this is not primarily a financial choice. This issue is about what’s right. It isn’t right to interfere in the formation of a life long relationship between a mother and her infant simply on the basis of financial considerations. Study after study has confirmed that a stable family life is good for children. Children who have stability are less likely to drop out of school, less likely to develop drug and alcohol problems, and less likely to turn to crime.

Please consider expanding the FMLA so that more women and babies are protected. Please consider joining the rest of the civilized world in offering paid maternity leave to moms so they can start out life with their infants in the best possible circumstances. Please don’t allow corporate greed to dictate policies that directly impact the most vulnerable members of society.

Thank you.

Traci G. Perg, RN

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January 11, 2007 at 10:26 am by Anonymous

Two years ago, I collapsed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and adrenal failure. My company gave me the option: three months FML, or termination. I was fortunate enough to find an alternative-care physician who gave effective treatment for my conditions, and had me back up on my feet within that time.

My husband’s own health was deteriorating at the time with cardiomyopathy, and he was dependent on my company’s health insurance. Thanks to the FMLA, we were able to preserve health insurance for both of us while I took the time I needed to regain my health. If we had not had this option, it is doubtful that he would have been able to get health insurance for himself due to his life-threatening cardiac condition.

We are only one of the many families who have been helped by the FMLA. This lifesaving act must be preserved and expanded, not scaled back.

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January 11, 2007 at 10:31 am by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern,
January 11, 2007

I am writing to urge you to support, not tear apart, the Family Leave
Act. This is supposed to be a country of “family values” and I can’t
think of a better value to promote than supporting a family at it’s
start. I was working for Blue Man Productions, a very progressive and
generous company when I had my first child. They not only gave me 3
months off without fear of loosing my job, they paid me a percentage
of my salary while I was out. There have been a number of employees
who have taken advantage of their generous policy. As a result Blue
Man Productions have been able to keep their best, brightest employees
happy and more loyal to the company than most any other company I can
think of.

On the other hand, my husband, who worked for a small company at the
time of my son’s birth, did not have these luxuries. He had a total
of *two days* off for his “paternity leave”. My husband had only a
week of vacation time to add to these two days. Even with this added
week it was not nearly enough time for him to help me in this most
important and stressful time for me as a new mother or our new family.
Even more galling than the two day policy was his company’s policy of
*one week* off for maternity leave! They actually fired a mom who
needed more time. Anyone who has had a baby knows that having only
one week off after a birth is a most ridiculous, stressful expectation
to place on a new mom.

I urge you, based on my experiences, to expand the scope of the Family
Leave Act. I can’t tell you how comforting, both mentally and
financially, it was for me to have some money coming in during those
first three months while I was at home with my newborn son. Business
owners complain that they will have an undue burden to provide pay for
mothers on leave. In California, the employers don’t pay for this
benefit. It’s covered by a weekly small deduction from the paycheck,
much like New York State’s sixty cents a week disability deduction.
It seems so little for a policy that would make such a difference in
so many new families’ lives.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Respectfully Yours,

Margo Gibson
Brooklyn, NY

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January 11, 2007 at 10:31 am by Anonymous

Hello. I am a working mother of four young children as well as the primary bread-winner of my family. I have benefitted from the Family and Medical Leave Act and I wanted you to know how valuable it was for me and my family.

My first three children were ready to go into day care when my maternity leave ended and we all adjusted quite well after spending ever moment of the first 6 weeks of their lives together. I never would have expected my fourth child to be any different. He was however, from the first hours after his birth. Precious Elijah, he slept too much and just didn’t eat very much. Latching on to receive his first breast milk worked, but not as perfectly as his older siblings when they were first born. Well, this die-hard breast feeding supportive mom was convinced that we’d get it right within days and so we headed home ready to join Daddy, brothers and sister. A few days later we had to put him on a “bili-blanket” because his poor yellow body couldn’t get rid of the toxins building up in his system. This worked and we gladly sent the medical equipment back in a few days. Two weeks after his birth, my breast milk supply suddenly dwindled to practically nothing and Elijah was clearly not gaining weight. We went back to the doctor and started him on formula. This wasn’t before he lost over a pound of his initial birth weight. From then on, it was a challenge to get Elijah to eat enough. We followed a tight routine developed with our doctor which left little time for long stretches of sleep for either of us. Slowly, slowly Elijah did start to grow, but his small body was clearly not catching up to where he should have been at six weeks. When my maternity leave was about to end, I knew that my baby wasn’t ready to be cared for by anyone else. He had needs that couldn’t be satisfied by anyone who had to care for other children at the same time. So my husband and I took a look at our finances and knowing it would be tough, I requested additional leave from my employer. I took 4 more weeks under the Family and Medical Leave Act and by the time Elijah was three months old, he was showing signs of growing and we all felt good about the transition to day care. My son was on the mend, but my credit took a huge hit. While I was able to take more time and keep my job, the loss of pay was really difficult. We were late on almost every bill except our mortgage and even when I went back to work, it took months to bring our debts current. Herein is the reason the FMLA needs to be expanded. We shouldn’t make parents decide between financial survival and the health of their child! I am well aware that the US is only one of 4 countries of 168 who doesn’t have some form of paid leave for new mothers. I can’t bare to listen to critics of expansion who claim that we would risk economic downfall if companies had to foot the bill for paid leave. In looking at all the civilized nations who offer paid leave, how then can one explain their economic health?

In this nation that espouses “family values” – let’s put our money where our mouth is and show the world and our own citizens that we truly value families and the need for moms and dads to care for their new born babies. Thank you!

P.S. Elijah just turned two and while still a bit small for his age, he’s showing all the good signs of metal and emotional development.

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January 11, 2007 at 10:37 am by Anonymous

I’m fortunate to work for a company that provide paid maternity leave, as well as unpaid FMLA for up to 12 weeks. It was amazing support during the pregnancy of my last baby, and I truly could not have handled the maternity leave financially if not for their support.

SO I have only positive feedback on this subject. However, I would hate to see this get scaled back for future moms and dads who need to provide the correct are for newborns and for themselves. It’s bad enough babies and mothers get kicked out of the hospital after only 48 hours.

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January 11, 2007 at 10:44 am by Anonymous

I am writing to express my interest in extending the FMLA laws, especially for mothers who are nursing on maternity leave. I am a registered nurse who thankfully am able to work PRN, or as needed, on a birthing unit. For those who are not able to for whatever reasons, full time RNs are known to “dry out” when returning to work because its too busy to pump. I worked in a busy unit full time during my pregnancy and all the mothers who returned from maternity leave ended up having to stop breast feeding because the staffing was not able to break mothers to pump a few times a day (which is needed for infants as young as 6-12 weeks when mothers return). Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics states breast feeding is best for the at least the first 6 months and best for the first year. There is so many studies and facts that say its the best for your child to breast feed as long as possible and I find it so dissappointing that women who return to work so early are basically forced to give up nursing their infant because they cannot pump enough to keep their milk supply up. Especially on a Labor and Delivery unit, which I find to be puzzling since we promote bonding and breast feeding of infants and mothers. I believe extending the maternity leave without losing ones job is essential for a mother and infant to continue that bond and nourishment that is so needed. Most infants are not even sleeping through the night at such a young age when mothers return to work, making women exhausted when they do work. I know RNs work 12 hour shifts and not sleeping more than a few hours can be detrimental to ones work and patients. I ask that you please consider this opportunity for all mothers out there who are so passionate about breast feeding as I am. Extending the leave could be optional as some women do want to return to work or have no problems with bottle feeding.

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January 11, 2007 at 10:57 am by Ruth

To whom it may concern:
I gave birth to my son five years ago. He was born at just 25 weeks gestation, weighed 1 lb, 11 oz. and could not breathe on his own. Lucky for me, my company, informed me right away about my leave options. Because of the FMLA, I was able to be with my son in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit every day for 12 weeks in addition to my maternity leave. My only worry was whether or not my son would make it through the night-he had 7 transfusions and coded 5 different times…I cannot imagine what it would have been like if I would have had to worry about work and money and keeping my job. My co-workers donated vacation time to help with expenses-this would not have been necessary if the law required companies to offer PAID leave for medical emergencies. PLEASE EXPAND THE FMLA. If you truly value family-put the family FIRST!!!!!!!!

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January 11, 2007 at 11:39 am by Anonymous

I am currently attempting a lawsuit against my former employer, Outback Restaurant Partners, Inc., parent company of Outback, Carrabbas Italian Grill, Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Bonefish Grill among others. They own 1100 restaurants concept-wide and employ well over 40,000. I was forced out of my job basically because nothing is offered by way of a flexible work schedule and I was often expected to work weeks with incredible overtime. Since I am the primary caregiver of my two children, I was forced to resign. Here’s the kicker, Outback is attempting to block my unemployment claim! I guess in a company that has over 4 billion in revenue each year, my weekly unemployment benefit would break them. I am resolved now not only to appeal the unemployment decision but to bring any additional discrimination lawsuits against them. Although this is not exactly about the FMLA, I was wondering if anyone out there had any experience with this sort of issue and any case law or remedies involved. Any information would help not only myself, but all of the other new mommies and working parents who are fed up with the disgraceful behavior of this company.

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January 11, 2007 at 12:08 pm by Anonymous

The Family and Medical Leave Act came to the rescue when my father had a stroke in California, two years ago. All three of his sons live on the east coast and would not have been able to maintain his home and the care of his invalid wife without it. Only one of us had the FMLA benefit and was able to stay out there for 12 weeks. The other two of us had to make several short trips out and alternate visits. My father recovered and was able to come home after 14 weeks and resume his responsibilities, but it would have been very difficult without one of us staying that 12 weeks and taking care of Mom. The FMLA is a needed program, and could possibly be improved a bit to make things even better. Please, don’t let it slip away.

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January 11, 2007 at 12:43 pm by Anonymous

It’s already absolutely atrocious that we have no paid family leave in this country – I can’t believe there’s even talk of limiting the inferior FMLA that we actually do have. We’re one of the richest countries in the world – how come we can treat our own citizens with the civility that we deserve? Please, expand the FMLA provisions to be in line with the rest of industrialized world; don’t scale them back.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 12:44 pm by Anonymous

FMLA was a huge support for me and my family after the birth of my son. Since my husband is self employed, we would not have been able to pay our mortgage and bills without the income I was getting during FMLA. The 12 weeks I was able to be home with my son during the first weeks of his life was critical to our ability to bond, my ability to nurture and establish a routine and breastfeed by child. California has been a role model for the country in it’s position on family values and importance of health and well being. If anything we should be encouraging other states to follow our example and provide additional benefits for families with medical situations. It disheartens me that we would go in the opposite direction and become more small minded and focused on work rather than family.

Please consider the voters opinions as you make any changes to our legislature.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 12:46 pm by Anonymous

I am writing to express great concern over possible attempts to scale back the current Family Medical Leave Act. If not for FMLA, I would not be able to be a working mother as I have used it with the births of my two children, and will be using it again with my child due in February. I believe the FMLA should be expanded. My current boss, who is from Canada, is appalled at the lack of paid leave and the short time off for American workers who qualify. Our country is woefully behind most industrialized countries in providing some sort of paid leave.

I work for a local government where paid leave is only provided by using up sick and vacation time. Even with these, I will only have approximately 3-4 weeks of paid time off, with no sick time remaining when I return. With my previous child, this lack of sick time after returning to work became a problem, as he developed medical issues requiring physical therapy and frequent doctor’s appointments. Because of this, it has taken me 3 years just to get to the point where I have 2 weeks of sick time built up. I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not sick myself very often.

At this point I may not be able to afford to take off a full 12 weeks to be with my newborn, as most of the time will be unpaid. It is a real shame that many women are not given 12 weeks to enjoy their newborns. Although my employer will allow me the full 12 weeks, I have heard from my OB/GYN that many companies are only allowing 6 weeks unless there are futher medical complications after the birth. In this day and age it is hard to believe that there are those that would suggest that the current regulations are too generous.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 12:53 pm by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern:

As a new mother, I recently was able to take advantage of the FMLA job protection. This was of upmost importance to my family, as it allowed me to retain our family’s medical insurance (my husband was out of work for a time after I found out I was pregnant, and then his new job did not offer). This was critical to my son’s health, as he had some digestive problems, leading to bleeding intestines, and growth slow-down. If we had not been able to retain our benefits, he could not have received the care he needed, nor I the care I needed after my unexpected cesarean section.

It barely made things possible for us to survive, but it could have been much better for us if I had been able to receive paid leave of some sort, but that did not happen, even though I worked for a HUGE multi-billion dollar company (Anheuser Busch Entertainment). We really had to juggle things to economically make it while I was out on leave, including my husband taking on 2 extra jobs that took his time away from our new family, during a very stressful time of our new son’s medical problems.

Not to mention that I had to fight tooth and nail with my HR department and their insurance company (MetLife) for every tiny benefit I did get (a measly $95 a week disability benefit for only 6 weeks recovery after major abdominal surgery that my doctors and midwives wanted me out of work for a minimum of 8 weeks to recover)!

Please do not scale back on FMLA…it needs to be expanded! Some sort of paid leave should be examined, as well as expanding job protection to all American workers. If we do not protect our workforce here in America, we will lose it!!!!

- The FMLA is a good start, but we can do better. The ability for parents to take leave without fear of loosing their job is important. That said, “Paid leave significantly decreases infant mortality, while other leave has no significant effect. This suggests that if leave is provided without adequate payment and job protection, parental leave-taking behavior may not be very responsive…. As a result, other leave does not have a significant effect on improving infant health,” notes an Economic Journal report. In other words, it’s paid family leave that makes the big difference.

- Instead of reviewing a program which is already working well, the Department of Labor should be putting energy into expanding the FMLA to cover more workers (only 46.5% of private sector workers are currently covered under the law because it only applies to those who work in companies with 50 or more employees), and into making paid family and medical leave available to all.

*A special note about a common misconception regarding who pays for paid family leave: Paid leave need not be a burden for business. In California, the only state with paid family leave, the funding for paid leave comes from a small employee paycheck deduction, not out of the pocket of businesses.

Thank you,

Michelle LeRiche
Orlando, FL

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 1:41 pm by Anonymous

FMLA allowed me to stay home with my infant for a couple months while I recovered from birth.

If my husbands salary alone was enough to support our family, I would have chosen to stay home longer. If I could have afforded to live without health insurance, I would have stayed home alittle longer. If my employer allowed me, I would have stayed home alittle longer without losing my job. If I had saved money longer than one year prior to the birth of my child, I would have been able to stay home longer.

But none of those things were possible. I didnt have the luxury of a choice.

Leaving my 4 month old infant with a stranger was the most painful and shameful experience I’ve ever had. To force a woman to leave her infant is not what modern societies do. Well, except America.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 2:10 pm by Anonymous

Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to offer paid leave to caregivers.

I am a mother of two, out of the workforce because it’s so damn hard to be in it, what with the energy required to care for children, the fact that day care tuition must be paid even if I have to take off work to care for sick kids, but the employers don’t have to pay for days out of work, and so on, and so on, and so on…

So now I’m a “kept woman” fortunate enough to have a husband whose income is enough to keep us all housed and fed, and I use all my intellect, education and spare time on community organizing to make a better world for everyone. Unpaid, of course. But at least my skills are being poured into stuff I care about.

Best wishes. Help us families out.

http://www.tideshift.blogspot.com
http://www.thinkgloballyactlocally.blogspot.com

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 2:50 pm by Anonymous

12 weeks is a short time to be guarenteed to stay home and care for a child. It is hard enough to trust the care of our helpless, innocent babies at such a young age. People should have the choice to stay out even a month or two longer.

In addition to being a mother, I am a cancer survivor. FMLA allows a person in treatment, not to be pressured into returning to work too quickly. I had used my FMLA for maternaty leave and was diagnosed when I returned to work. I had no more FMLA, so I felt I needed to continue to work through chemotherapy and radiation so I would not be replaced or have my position elimintated. This was at a time when many layoffs were happening in my company. Good news is I kept my job, but I should not have felt that kind of pressure at such a difficult time.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 3:34 pm by Anonymous

This is what I emailed to the Dept. of Labor. To second another poster, one of the reasons I’m not sure I want kids is because of the lack of systemic support.

“Dear US Department of Labor:

We have a phrase in this great country of ours to describe American values. “Mom and apple pie” is what we say when we talk about what we believe in. Well, now it’s time to put our money where our mouth is. Keep the Family and Medical Leave Act in place. In fact, let’s make it paid. Here’s why we should:

- An Economic Journal report states: The ability for parents to take leave without fear of loosing their job is important. That said, “Paid leave significantly decreases infant mortality, while other leave has no significant effect.
This suggests that if leave is provided without adequate payment and job protection, parental leave-taking behavior may not be very responsive…. As a result, other leave does not have a significant effect on improving infant health.” In other words, it’s paid family leave that makes the big difference.

- Instead of reviewing a program which is already working well, your department should be putting energy into expanding the FMLA to cover more workers (only 46.5% of private sector workers are currently covered under the law because it only applies to those who work in companies with 50 or more employees), and into making paid family and medical leave available to all.

*A special note about a common misconception regarding who pays for paid family leave: Paid leave need not be a burden for business. In California, the only state with paid family leave, the funding for paid leave comes from a small employee paycheck deduction, not out of the pocket of businesses.

It’s time we join the rest of the industrialized world. Let’s keep and expand FMLA. Working families are what keep this country running. Their children are our future. What better investment can we make in these kids and their families than a paid leave law? Let’s keep them running.

Thank you!
Breck

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 3:35 pm by Anonymous

I am writing in support of retaining and expanding the FMLA. It is crucial to the health of American families.

Paid family leave is essential to ensure that newborns will thrive. The WHO and other health agencies insist that it is pivotal to humans’ lifelong health that they breastfeed from birth for a minimum of 6 months (the WHO recommends 2 years). Failing to provide paid time off for new mothers is incompatible with that goal. If a new mother must return to work days or weeks after her baby is born for financial reasons or to avoid job loss, it is very difficult for her and her newborn child to nurse successfully, let alone for 6 months or more.

Imagine a single mother attempting to manage the transition to motherhood on unpaid leave. Imagine a minimum-wage earning father with a wife and a newborn to support. Do we really want our young families to endure such hardship?

Paid family and medical leave is essential to the wellbeing of families. Time off from work is great, but if we cannot feed our babies, our loved ones, ourselves, it’s of very limited usefulness.

Please expand the FMLA to cover ALL American workers. Please also expand it to offer paid time off to care for our families. I ask this as a mother, a worker, a taxpayer, a voter.

Thank you.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 4:32 pm by bas19

I am writing to voice very strong support for the continuation and expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). It is embarrassing that the United States is one of only four countries that does not offer some form of paid leave from work for new mothers. Moreover, fathers’ ability to nuture young children and care for ailing family members also must be recognized and supported. As American families, we deserve better!

I have been employed in a large, research-oriented university setting since 1997 as a tenure-track faculty member. More senior female faculty members had returned to work as early as two weeks after giving birth (one in 1994; and another chose to do so in 1997), and I was appalled that they were placed in that position. Having delayed childbearing to complete my doctoral degree, my husband and I were ecstatic when I became pregnant in 1998. However, given those earlier examples, I was extremely concerned about how my colleagues would view my pregnancy given the likelihood that they would question my commitment to my work.

I knew of the FMLA, and after some preliminary research at my institution, it clearly applied to staff at the university and was codified in university policy as 6 weeks of unpaid leave. Strangely, no clear policy existed for faculty members, and inquiries to my department head and other colleagues about it went nowhere. Unbeknownst to me and my colleagues (and never placed in writing), my college within the university had quietly adopted the policy that faculty members were eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave.

Imagine my shock and amazement in learning from the college human resource manager that I was eligible for a semester of paid leave! Fortunately, while my immediate supervisor and colleagues were similarly surprised about this policy, they were largely supportive of my decision to take a leave. To my knowledge, I was one of the first women to use this leave (in 1999) in our college. By the time I had my second child in 2004, it was more commonly accepted that this leave was available and acceptable to utilize, without jeopardizing one’s tenure-track job status.

To have the freedom of spending several months with my newborns — while on the tenure track, without concern about finances — was extraordinary. Moreover, my ‘tenure clock’ was stopped, permitted me an additional year to develop my dossier for consideration for tenure and promotion. I realize that my family and I have been extremely blessed, and I am now a tenured associate professor — and this could not have happened without family leave (and the use of a medical-grade breast pump so I continue nursing upon my return to work). I am not alone in this position now, either, as I personally can count 10 other female and male faculty who have similarly benefited from this leave policy within the past eight years.

Without the FMLA and related policies and concessions that recognize the dual commitments of parents to work and to family, American workers at all levels are placed in an untenable position of having to choose one or the other. It is unfair and unconscionable that in a modern, first-world, economically strong society that these realities are not more fully taken into account. The FMLA was a good initial first step. Now is the time to expand it to require paid (not unpaid) leave for working parents.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 5:46 pm by Anonymous

Dept. of Labor,
I’m writing to let you know that I not only support the Family Medical Leave Act, I believe that it should be expanded. There are many reasons why, but the only one that really matters is that it is humane and the right thing to do.
I, like many women, work so that my family can afford a mortgage, medical care, and a future retirement. These are not the kinds of things that I consider luxuries. My husband and I are both teachers in California. I’m not going to complain about the average teacher’s salary, but I will say that for us to afford the necessities mentioned above, we both need to work. I am a responsible, active, contributing member of my community and country; I also became a mother a year and a half ago. We were fortunate because our daughter was born at the beginning of the summer and I had to use very little FMLA time. I could have used more, but we couldn’t afford the lack of my paycheck. I stayed home with my baby for three months. It didn’t feel like enough time, but we’re both thriving now.
We’re expecting our second child in August of this year, and this time I will have to use more of the unpaid FMLA if I intend to stay with my baby for at least three months. How will we afford it? I will use up all of my acquired sick leave, then use the paid leave that CA offers, then I’ll use FMLA for roughly six weeks, and we’ll go into debt on a Home Equity Line of Credit; at least that’s the plan.
It scares both my husband and I that I wont have any sick leave left. I imagine I’ll just work if I’m sick, and take the cut in pay if I have to stay home with a sick child. We’re also worried about acquiring further debt. But on the whole, I feel lucky. Lucky that I have a job with sick leave, lucky to live in a state the offers paid medical leave to new mothers, lucky to own a home and be able to get a HELOC, and lucky that FMLA protects my job so that I can spend time with my newborn and still return to work.
The reality is that we live in a society where it is necessary for two people to work to support a family. Another reality is that women are a valuable and necessary part of the work force. Yet another reality is that both men and women are going to continue having children and making families. It does not seem unreasonable to me that the government would acknowledge these realities and try to support families and workers by at least guaranteeing job security for new parents. More would be nice. There are many families who are not as fortunate as ours; many women have to return to work immediately. Please do not do anything to dismantle the Family Medical Leave Act. If anything, consider a six week paid disability program such as CA has. Families are watching the choices made by our legislators.
Thank you for your attention and consideration of my comments.

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 10:54 pm by Anonymous

My first son was born in 1974 and I went back to work when he was just three weeks old. I was forced by the circumstance to stop breast feeding, but even more unfortunate, I was so exhausted and overwhelmed, that my emotional state of mind at the time so severely strained my early relationship with my son, that we are still on marginally estranged terms more than thirty years later. I attribute his difficulty in relationships with women to his early childhood experience with me. When my second son was born, the circumstances of myself and my husband had changed, and I was able to stay home with my new baby. My second son and I are very close, and he is engaged to be married to woman I have come to count as a dear friend.

By all means, do not repeal the Family and Medical Leave Act, but expand the parameters so parents can be with their children at critical times in their lives. Our nation and culture will benefit as a result.

Sincerely,

Sue Leslie Lytle

[Reply]

January 11, 2007 at 11:12 pm by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern,

Here are a few reasons that not only should scaling back FMLA not even be considered, but expanded.

1. I am a mother of a toddler. I also work full-time at a rewarding job in a health department. I have managed to set up community networks for emergencies that don’t exist for other states. If I had been forced to leave my job as a result of having a child, because of lack of adequate leave, it would have been the health department’s loss, not only because of my capabilities, but because I am a workaholic, and extremely productive and passionate about my work. This is true of thousands of productive and educated women in the workforce. If FMLA is scaled back, companies will be shooting themselves in the feet in terms of productivity.
2. It has been demonstrated in numerous studies that the time spent by mother and child within the first year, and especially within the first three months is critical to adequate attachment. Lack of adequate attachment can contribute to two things: loss of milk supply, which supports immune function in the newborn, and attachment disorders in later life, which are untreatable.

a. When I had to go back to work after my leave, my milk supply ended because of the lack of feeding during the day. I had time to pump only three times during the day, and my milk supply did not respond to the pump, as can happen with some women. Breastfeeding for at least the first three months, preferably longer, has been proven in numerous studies to boost immune function and prevent respiratory illnesses in infancy, such as RSV, asthma, pneumonia. Infant mortality from these illnesses is well documented. Fortunately, I had three months in which I had time with my daughter, and she had three months of breast milk.
b. It is also documented that the first year is critical to bonding and attachment between mother and child. Without this attachment, as we have now witnessed with the adoption of numerous children from orphanages in other countries where the child is not cared for until they are two or three years of age, there is sometimes the formation of what the psychiatric world calls ‘attachment disorders’. It is not treatable by psychiatry, therapy, or anything else. The damage has been done. The next generation depends on our working mothers to be able to give them what they need when they need it, if we are to raise a generation of functional working adults.

3. The United States is the only industrialized country that has failed to provide paid leave for mothers, other than Australia, who at least has a year of unpaid leave. What does the Department of Labor think about being behind every other country including Japan, in the maternity leave policy? Giving adequate time to mothers has not hurt other countries’ productivity, and in fact has contributed to better rates of turnover, reducing repeated training costs. Finally, recognizing the value of mothers, and especially working mothers by honoring the additional tasks they are providing to society is a human service for which the United States has not shown commitment. The past administration has claimed dedication to ‘family values’. Well, ‘family values’ start when the baby is born. If we are so committed to ‘family values’, our policies, business or otherwise, need to reflect those ideals. Otherwise, that claim is nothing more than sound and fury, and ultimately empty hypocrisy. Thank you.

[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 2:36 am by Anonymous

The Family Medical leave Act should not only be a law but a human right. Our society needs to have a work life balance to prevail as a human race. The problems in social structures derive from the capitalistic economy and the working family life style that is eluding us today. The Family Medical Leave Act should not only stay in place but should be amended for starters, it should be PAID leave instead of unpaid, as well as overlaying and not taking from any paid time off or sick leave that is already given. Absolutely the act should continue to be regulated and documented so that it is not abused. We as a Society Community and Country should show support for our working men and women that need to take time to care for the needs of their families. Welfare and quality if human life is truly the most important aspect of why we are here. I can’t understand why the Family Medical Leave Act should even be up for debate, we should be focusing on numerous other laws and Act’s and include idea’s and ways to help improve our society, family life, and structure.

[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 9:11 am by Anonymous

FMLA is an important piece of legislation that needs to be retained and expended to further assist working families. Personally, I work for an organization that has a staff of less than 50 people. For my child’s upcoming birth, I am allowed eight weeks off. Anything more and I will have to “negotiate” with my boss, according to our administrator. Although I am a valued member of the organization, I have no contract and am essentially an at will employee. If there are any complications or problems, my employer will likely work with me, as my education and experience are not easily replaceable. I do not think my experience is universal. Being able to take leave without fear of losing one’s job is imperative to keeping down stress levels and focusing on a new life or recovering from an illness.

Sincerely,
Heather Anderson-Fintak, Esq.

[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 10:06 am by Anonymous

I urge you to expand the Family Leave Act to include all Americans. Our country talks alot about family values but does little to truely support families. We should not have to chose between our jobs a paycheck or taking care of family when sick or a new baby arrives.

Other countries do a better job than we do and it’s a shame. I was off from work for two months when my husband had cancer 10 years ago. My employer of 20 people had leave for me to use because as a domestic violence shelter our board of directors knew we made so little money in salary we could not afford to miss work at all and put food on the table and pay our bills. This family leave allowed me to focus on my husband and not worry about money.

As a home birth midwife as well I can tell you it is most important that familys have time to bond with their babies and care for them and then the kids are most importantly healthier and better adjusted mentally. and then less a burden on society later.

Peace Danette Condon

Danette Condon, Victim Advocate
Family Refuge Center
117 E. Washington St. Lewisburg, WV 24901
304-645-6334

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[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 1:08 pm by Anonymous

My company does employ well over 50 people so I was allowed the 12 weeks off. They also provide short term disability which pays for 6-8 weeks. and any days you are off (they recommended leaving 2 weeks before your due date) prior to delievery. They will also use your vacation time to pay you for any additional days you take. If I wouldn’t have had this support from my employer I never would have been able to spend the first 16 weeks bonding with my baby (who’s now over 3
yrs old) and wouldn’t have been able to form the solid breastfeeding relationship (I ended up nursing for 23 months!) that is needed before trying to return to work and do it. We definately need to keep at least the current FMLA guidelines… if not beef them up a bit!
Tess

[Reply]

January 12, 2007 at 2:57 pm by Anonymous

To whom it may concern:

We are living in a time when life if very complicated. People can have more than they have ever had, but have to work many hours just to maintain the status quo. In order for the quality of life to be what it should be in this country, our government needs to take opportunities which arise to assist the average worker in meeting the needs of family.

Those specific needs which come up when a child is born, an older adult becomes ill or the worker becomes ill are addressed in the current medical leave law. However, our law is substandard to most of the world. We need to remember that family interaction saves the government money in the long run.

We also need to stop allowing the big businesses of the world, who are only committed to their own bottom line with no thought about the future impact of their actions on the environment or the community, to call the shots on these issues. As long as those major corporations keep giving these incredible salaries and retirement packages to their top management, they will believe they are the elite and entitled to privilege. While the average worker, in their view, needs to remember their place and be glad they even have a job.

It is the job of our government to keep things fair and, when the business community forgets, to remind them that this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. It is not my job, nor the job of any other citizen to make any other entity or individual a b-zillionaire.

So, please advise Congress to expand our medical leave law. Do not allow the big businesses in our country to reduce it further.

Sincerely,

Julie Anne Matlock

[Reply]

January 13, 2007 at 12:54 am by Anonymous

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing in reference to the renewed discussions of the Family Medical Leave Act. As a married woman, the teacher of a prenatal yoga class and the daughter of a baby boomer, I cannot find any law that is more important to the future of our nation.

FMLA keeps jobs secure for the strength of partners preparing to raise a new citizen. Time off from work (even though it is unpaid), insures that family members can be cared for without feeling the mental diress of fear from the caregiver about where their pay check will come from in twelve weeks. It helps companies aviod higher turnover, and cost of retraining, and it keeps our employment centers from being crowded with new parents. (We don’t provide childcare at employment facilities, so we shouldn’t force parents to be there.)

Further, my parents and their generation will be needed in our economy to work longer and contribute more than their predecessors. Without insurance that their jobs will be there when they finish any necessary medical treatment, and FMLA rights extended to my generation to help care for them, we’ll see a rise in unemployment and bankrupcty related to medical stress.

The United States is the only developed nation that has not socialized their medical system; the only nation that see health care as a privilege instead of a basic right. Let’s not lower ourselves further by taking away people’s insurance to keep that job that is their ticket to health care and economic stability.
Economic stability and health for individuals is the foundation for a strong economy and soundness for the nation.

Thank you for your consideration.

PEACE,
Sayde Lorelei
310 8th Avenue
Marion, IA 52302

[Reply]

January 13, 2007 at 12:39 pm by Anonymous

I just wrote in support of the FMLA, but unfortunately forgot to keep a copy of my email. One of the things I said in it was about my own personal experience, to wit:

My son was born in 1965 with hydrocephalus, a medical condition that required immediate surgery, as well as surgeries later on; it also caused seizures beginning when he was eight years old. When he was born I was married, supported by my husband. However, when he was six I got divorced, and had to work.

I lost at least three jobs for taking time off when my son needed me to care for him. I never developed much of a professional life, although a few other factors are responsible as well. Now, at the age of 60, I’m even pooorer than I was as a single mom–and that’s saying a lot.

To read more about me, as well as essays on this and related topics, visit my blog: http://marcys.wordpress.com

[Reply]

January 13, 2007 at 10:06 pm by Anonymous

I am a family and clinical psychologist working in northern Ohio. FMLA offers a strong support to many of my clients in time of stress or illness. I could recount stories but won’t bore you with that. FMLA is a cornerstone of providing workers under stress with time off under federal guidelines to address the problems in their lives. I don’t know what restrictions there are, but FMLA should be continued and expanded if there is room for expansion.
Thank you.

Dr. Myron Bud Stern

[Reply]

January 13, 2007 at 10:40 pm by Anonymous

Dear Department of Labor,

I understand you are reviewing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). As a manager I ask you to continue this law because it is good for business. My experience is that it retains valuable workers and saves money in retraining. 6 week’s medical leave is just not enough time for a new parent or caregiver to adjust to their new responsibilities and come back to work. Too many would leave the workforce without the extended FMLA time; especially when we apply it flexibly and allow them to come back parttime with flexible hours.

Today’s jobs are knowledge intense and experience matters, help us retain workers by retaining FMLA.

Respectfully,

Janette Plunkett

[Reply]

January 14, 2007 at 10:28 am by Anonymous

(I WROTE THIS TO THE DEPT OF LABOR)
I am writing to you in regards to maternity leave/FMLA/Short Term Disability. My work does not offer maternity leave. Instead they offer for me to get on FMLA so that I wont lose my job and to get on Short Term Disability so that I can get paid time off. Well since I wasn’t signed up on Short Term Disability BEFORE I got pregnant they say I am not qualified to receive paid time off because pregnancy is considered pre-existing therefore I am not going to get paid for 6 weeks that I am REQUIRED to take off by medical professionals. I do NOT think this is fair at all. Who in this world besides wealthy families is going to beable to survive (with a new baby no less) without getting paid for 6 weeks then coming back to work and not getting paid for another two!! This is a very serious issue and it is 2007 and there is no back bone by the so called GREAT UNITED STATES for women who are going to bring such a beautiful thing in this world. It is a shame that other parts of the world provide great maternity leave benefits and this so called free country who cares for their citizens can let situations like this take place. You all wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our bodies being able to perform such a miracle! This has been quite frustrating and I have no idea what I should do and I think the laws need to change. All employers should have to provider maternity leave with assurance that the employee will paid for their entire maternity leave and will have their jobs when they return. Please help in making a change to this issue. Thank you.

[Reply]

January 14, 2007 at 10:30 am by Anonymous

(I WROTE THIS TO THE DEPT OF LABOR)
I am writing to you in regards to maternity leave/FMLA/Short Term Disability. My work does not offer maternity leave. Instead they offer for me to get on FMLA so that I wont lose my job and to get on Short Term Disability so that I can get paid time off. Well since I wasn’t signed up on Short Term Disability BEFORE I got pregnant they say I am not qualified to receive paid time off because pregnancy is considered pre-existing therefore I am not going to get paid for 6 weeks that I am REQUIRED to take off by medical professionals. I do NOT think this is fair at all. Who in this world besides wealthy families is going to beable to survive (with a new baby no less) without getting paid for 6 weeks then coming back to work and not getting paid for another two!! This is a very serious issue and it is 2007 and there is no back bone by the so called GREAT UNITED STATES for women who are going to bring such a beautiful thing in this world. It is a shame that other parts of the world provide great maternity leave benefits and this so called free country who cares for their citizens can let situations like this take place. You all wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our bodies being able to perform such a miracle! This has been quite frustrating and I have no idea what I should do and I think the laws need to change. All employers should have to provider maternity leave with assurance that the employee will paid for their entire maternity leave and will have their jobs when they return. Please help in making a change to this issue. Thank you.

IF ANYONE CAN HELP WITH WHAT I SHOULD DO, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT miss_em81@hotmail.com

[Reply]

January 14, 2007 at 4:16 pm by Anonymous

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to urge you to stop any efforts to scale back the FMLA and encourage you to think about expanding the FMLA.

The first three months are an extremely precious time to spend with your newborn. It’s important for mother and child bonding, attachment and nourishment through breastfeeding. I can’t imagine not having the time at home with my daughter during those first three months of her life. My employer would not have allowed me to stay home if it wasn’t for the FMLA. I was so thankful for this law and the ability to be the primary caregiver for my child during these months.

Please give other mothers this opportunity.

I hope to see a more generous version of the FMLA in the coming years.

[Reply]

February 15, 2007 at 5:19 pm by Anonymous

Dear Mr. Brennan-

I am a mother of two who was fortunate to be able to qualify for unpaid leave under the FMLA for the birth of my son (2000) and for paid leave under the CA Paid Family Leave Act for the birth of my daughter (2004).

I am writing to urge you to at minimum RETAIN the current provisions of the FMLA and to strongly encourage you to consider EXPANDING the FMLA to bring it in line with the CA Paid Family Leave Act.

As the primary breadwinner for my family, it was a huge relief for both births to know that the FMLA protected my job during my leave. However, for my son’s birth in 2000, I actually returned to work at 6 weeks because our family could not afford unpaid leave for the full 12 weeks. As a result, I spent the majority of my leave frantically looking for quality child care. I also had to cut breastfeeding short and suffered from postpartum depression. The stress on our family, our marriage and our child was great. For the birth of my second child, I was able to take the entire 12 weeks of leave due to the passing of the CA Paid Family Leave Act. The experience this time around was much different: I was able to breastfeed my daughter until she was six months old, my son had an opportunity to bond with his sibling and our entire family became much closer.

My company was recently bought by a Danish company and my Danish colleagues simply cannot believe that my co-worker will not take any time off for the upcoming birth of his son (he cannot afford it) and that his wife also qualifies for no maternity leave because she works for a company with less than 50 employees. In Denmark, parents are given six months of paid leave that can be used by either parent. They may also take an additional six months of unpaid leave. I do not see any reason why the United States cannot support families in a similar manner!

A strong FMLA is a win-win for everyone: employers retain employees, marriages are strengthened, families bond and children are healthier.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the importance of the FMLA for my family and millions of other working American families.

Respectfully,

Melissa Curran-Moore
296 N. Hope Ave. #57
Santa Barbara, CA 93110

[Reply]

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