It took at least ten years of work by unions, women's organizations and other progressive groups. But when the Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law in 1993, it made a big improvement in the lives of working women and men.
The Family and Medical Leave Act was an important step forward in helping working Americans juggle the dual demands of work and family. It recognized that workers need time for family responsibilities, whether it’s to care for a new baby, an ailing parent or other concerns.
But there's ongoing work to do to make sure that every working family has access to leave when they most need it. It wasn’t until 2010 that flight attendants and airline crew members received that same benefit.
Today, the FMLA covers only about half of the workforce, leaving more than 75 million workers with zero protections under federal law. We still have a lot of work to do to better support working families.
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