Catherwood LibraryILR School

In an article for the Monthly Labor Review, associate professor Jane Waldfogel of Columbia University draws on Department of labor surveys for 2000 in pointing towards a growing usage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. This research has shown an increasing number of workers using the twelve-weeks unpaid leave guaranteed to employees of companies with 50 or more employees, along with a decrease in the number of workers who were unable to take this leave despite experiencing a birth, adoption or illness in their families. Two surprising trends that came out of the figures Ms. Waldfogel looked at were the fact that over sixty-five percent of businesses covered by the FMLA have reported no negative effects as a result of complying with the act, and the fact that many of those making use of the FMLA for births and adoptions are men.