THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT - KEY PROVISIONS AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

The recently enacted Family and Medical Leave Act requires larger empl oyers to provide eligible employees with up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for certain medical and family-related reasons. This article add resses who the law applies to; the circumstances when leave must be gr anted; how the leave period is supposed to be scheduled; various notic e, scheduling, medical certification, and reporting requirements; rein statement and continuation-of-benefits requirements, and other key pro visions of the Act. The basic requirements of the Act are not complica ted, but certain issues that are not addressed by the Act or its legis lative history-such as what qualifies as a serious health condition ju stifying a leave, when an intermittent or reduced schedule leave may b e taken and how such schedules are determined, and how differences wit h state family and medical leave laws are to be reconciled-will have t o be resolved by administrative regulation or litigation.