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Every year since the mid-1980s, legislation mandating that employers provide family and medical leave for their employees has been introduced into Congress but never signed into law. This year, however, things are different. On February 5, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, proclaiming that "now millions of our people will no longer have to choose between their jobs and their families." While thousands of employers will have to upgrade or add to their medical and family leave programs, the impact on most of them is not expected to be substantial.
The changes many employers especially larger companies and CPA firms--will have to make will be little more than slight modifications of programs already in place, according to John Hickey, a partner with benefit consultants Kwasha Lipton in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the General Accounting Office has estimated the legislation will add about $9.90 per employee per year to the cost of an employer's typical benefit package-or about 3/10 of 1%.
The act, which for most employers goes into effect August (for collective bargaining agreements, it goes into effect at the expiration of the agreement or February 5, 1994, whichever is sooner), carefully exempts companies that have fewer than 50 employees. However, it stipulates that if an employer has several work sites within a 75-mile radius, the combined number of employees at all locations governs whether the exemption applies.
WHAT THE LAW PROVIDES
The act's basic provisions allow most workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for the birth or adoption of a child; for the care of a child, spouse or parent who has a serious health condition; or for the treatment of their own serious health condition that prevents them from performing their job. When employees return...