The Family Medical Leave Act (FLMA) is another example of a law that in principle, and more importantly in the headlines, makes everyone feel good. Of course employers should give folks a break when they need time off due to serious health problems within their family. Right?
The FMLA currently covers any employer with 50 or more employees, and requires that they grant employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave for serious health conditions of the employee or immediate family members. There is currently a movement to reform the FMLA to either lower the 50 employee threshold or even eliminate entirely. This flies in the face of other efforts to make regulations more reasonable for smaller employers through regulatory flexibility.
Regulatory flexibility for small business has made great progress at both the national and state level by forcing regulators to take a look at the relative burden that laws place on smaller companies. When laws place an undue burden on a smaller company, regulations are adjusted to make them more reasonable.
So why is there such an effort being made to expand the FMLA to include even the smallest employers? Are small businesses being unusually rigid in how they deal with employees facing health crises in their families? This does not seem to be the case according to a survey conducted by the NFIB.
According to a 2004 NFIB National Small Business Poll, small-business owners grant virtually all requests for family and medical leave. Virtually all plans fall into one of two categories: the first policy is open-ended and allows the employees to come back when he or she is ready, while the second policy accommodates leave, but imposes some sort of time limit....FMLA actually infringes upon the delicate balance of employer and employee needs that it is supposed to help.
That's right. Small employers are finding it more difficult to offer the kind of compassionate support for their employees and their families under this the FMLA. I know this to be true from the vast majority of small business owners I have known over the years. Due to a combination of values, desired company culture, tight labor markets, and just plain common sense, most small businesses already offer generous support for employees in need.
When government steps in and makes blanket rules all of this must change. While the FMLA sounds simple, it has become in fact quite complex as it has been implemented. For example, take a look at this question and answer on the FMLA from a local Nashville paper, or at this site from the SBA that ultimately tells you that, "Due to the complexity of integrating FMLA with other policies covering absences, we suggest that you consult with your legal council or a human resources professional when updating your employee policies to incorporate FMLA. State laws, also need to be addressed." As an aside, isn't it just amazing that a government sponsored web site actually admits you that they really can't explain the complexities of a law to an educated citizens like you and me?
I hear time after time from entrepreneurs who find that laws like the FMLA actually limit what they can offer employees. It is a classic case of the minimum becoming the maximum. Rather than offer what we think our employees deserve or need, we must offer exactly what the government tells us: no more and no less.
We've seen it time after time: FMLA, Americans with Disabilities Act, mandated employer covered health insurance, and so forth. All of these massive laws seemingly were first proposed with good intentions, but have become entrenched parts of an expansive, mindless bureaucracy. Argue against any of these and you are branded as greedy, evil and heartless even if your intent is to be able to offer more than these laws require if the circumstance warrant.
All of these laws have gotten support from the public because they are offered as simple and fair programs. But, they are never simple and when looked at over the myriad of specific situations, rarely fair.
These laws may be made with good intentions. But we know where the road that is paved with such good intentions leads us....
