The Facts

• In February 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, who said at the time that bill was passed so "American workers will no longer have to choose between the job they need and the family they love," according to The Ohio State University Extension. The bill provided privileges to American workers making changes in the area of employment law.
  
  

Original Legislation

• First, the 1993 Act mandated that employees are entitled to, in certain circumstances, up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid work leave with health care benefits. Under this law, if a person who had been working for at least a year for a private or public organization with 50 or more employees and lived within in a 75-mile radius of the workplace, he could take a leave under the conditions of the arrival of a biological, adopted or foster child, the care of a seriously ill of a spouse, child or parent, and in the event that the employee's own health problems prevented her from doing her job.
  
  

2008 Amendments

• In January 2008, President Bush passed an amendment to Title I of the Family Medical and Leave Act of 1993, the National Defense Authorization Act. This extended this coverage to any spouse, child, parent or close relative of any Armed Forces member in a serious or disabled condition, in recuperation or undergoing medical treatment to leave work, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The 2008 amendments also provided for leave under qualifying special circumstances resulting from calls to active duty in the Armed Forces for a contingency operation.
  
  

The 'Final Rule'

• In November 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor published its "Final Rule." The Family Medical Leave Act is enforced under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Labor. It went into effect in January 2009.
  
  

What the Final Rule Did

• The "Final Rule" provided up to 26 workweeks of leave to military family members for health problems. It also provided 12 weeks for leave under special circumstances, allowing military family members to use 26 total weeks per year for all Family and Medical Leave circumstances. The "Final Rule" also made it possible for employers to contact health care providers of employees to inquire as to how much medical leave they would need.