Older Workers Value The FMLA

A majority of workers age 50 and older covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) have taken time off from work to deal with a personal or family medical crisis, and most older workers consider the FMLA to be relevant to their own lives, a study published by AARP concluded.

A survey of 1,356 workers over the age of 50 who are likely to be eligible for FMLA leave revealed that most workers in this age group have a high level of understanding and appreciation of their rights under the FMLA, with 91% of respondents indicating they are aware of the law and 88% saying they view the protections provided by the FMLA as personally important.

Results also showed that 58% of respondents have taken time off from work during the past five years for a family or medical reason. Some 47% said they had requested leave because of their own serious illness, while 25% told researchers they had taken time off to care for a family member who was sick.

At the same time, however, just 9% of all respondents and 15% of those who had taken time off from work for family or medical reasons indicated the leave they took could be classified as FMLA leave. Instead, most respondents reported taking other types of leave, including sick leave, vacation time, paid time off, or disability leave. Workers with household incomes below $50,000 were found to be more likely to take FMLA leave than those in higher income households. The survey also showed that those respondents who took FMLA leave were more likely than other leave-takers to report having taken at least nine weeks off work during a twelve-month period.

When those respondents who reported taking FMLA leave were asked to speculate about what they would have done if the FMLA had not been enacted, nearly two-thirds (64%) said they would have taken the same amount of time off but used another type of leave. Another 11% said they would have lost their job or quit, while 14% said they would have taken less time off, worked from home, or cut back on their hours.

While the survey's findings indicated that a relatively small percentage of older workers actually take FMLA leave and an even smaller group has no reasonable alternative to taking FMLA leave, even this level of usage "is a promising sign that the Act has made a difference," the study concluded. Moreover, researchers noted, the ability to take time off from work for family and medical reasons is "clearly of importance to this group." However, they observed, the lower awareness of the legislation among leave takers who have not used FMLA leave within the last five years suggests that additional education about their rights under the FMLA may encourage more workers to take advantage of its protections.