New Alternatives for Paid Family Leave?
North Carolina employers are required to follow the federal Family Medical Leave Act in order to provide paid or unpaid leave for employees who qualify for such leave. However, the employer is only required to do so if they have 50 or more employees for at least 20 weeks out of the year. Employees are only qualified for FMLA if they meet the following requirements: (1) they have worked for the company for at least one year; (2) they have worked over 1,250 hours during that last year; and (3) they work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees in a 75 mile radius. And if the employee meets those requirements they are still only qualified if they have recently had a new child, are caring for a family member with a serious health condition or they are recuperating from their own serious health condition. What happens to the employees who do not qualify or whose employer does not meet the requirements?
Currently in North Carolina, the only relief for such employees who do not qualify for federal leave is covered by state law. And under North Carolina law, the only reasons one can be qualified for family leave are domestic violence or “small necessities law” which allows an employee just four hours per year if they need to be involved with their children’s school activities.
Obviously, this leaves out an enormous percentage of North Carolina workers who must miss work for shorter, less severe illnesses or those who need to care for children with such illnesses. Recently there has been a huge push in Washington D.C. by politicians who are lobbying for legislation that will cover those employees who do not qualify for federal or current state leave. Kay Hagan and North Carolina residents have been on Capitol Hill recently testifying that North Carolina, and other states, need to provide family leave to those who need to care for themselves or their children. Such legislation would allow for employees to take time, paid or unpaid, to care for their families and guarantee that their job will not be in jeopardy for doing so. In a world where viruses are passed so quickly, everyone can benefit from such coverage.
