[1] The FMLA was a major part of President Bill Clinton's first-term domestic agenda, and he signed it into law on February 5, 1993.

[2] After Bill Clinton won the 1992 election, a law protecting family medical leave became one of his major first-term domestic priorities.

Rapid growth in the workforce, including a large number of women joining, suggested a federal regulation that would support workers who wanted to raise a family and/or needed time off for illness-related situations.

The United States Congress passed the Act with the understanding that "it is important for the development of children and the family unit that fathers and mothers be able to participate in early childrearing ... [and] the lack of employment policies to accommodate working parents can force individuals to choose between job security and parenting.

"[4] It also stressed the Act was intended to provide leave protection "in a manner that accommodates the legitimate interests of employers.

"[5] On December 20, 2019, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020,[6] the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) amended the FMLA to grant federal government employees up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth, adoption, or foster of a new child.

Since 2008, the Department of Labor has allowed the spouse, child, or parent of an active-duty military member who is deployed overseas for 12 or more months to take up to 12 weeks of leave.

However, five judges in the US Supreme Court in Ragsdale v Wolverine World Wide, Inc held that the statute precluded the right of the Department of Labor to do so.

[39] The federal FMLA does not apply to: Some states have enacted laws that mandate additional family and medical leave for workers in a variety of ways.

By 2017 five states and DC had laws for paid family leave: California since 2002, New Jersey since 2008, Rhode Island since 2013, New York since 2016, and the District of Columbia since 2019.

In 2015 Governor Jay Inslee secured a federal grant to begin designing a paid family leave program.

The Washington State Legislature approved Senate Bill 5975 during the 2017 legislative session and the new law went into effect on October 19, 2017.

Some states have enacted their own FMLAs that have a lower threshold for employer coverage: The federal FMLA only applies to immediate family—parent, spouse, and child.

"[61] In February 2015, the Department of Labor issued its final rule (effective March 27, 2015) amending the definition of spouse under the FMLA in response to the 2013 decision in United States v.

State FMLA laws and the new military family provisions of the FMLA have broadened these categories: Several states have passed FMLA-type statutes to give parents unpaid leave for other related purposes, including: In 2003, Han and Waldfogel found that "only about 60% of private sector workers are covered" [98] due to the clause stipulating a minimum number of employees, and once the clause stipulating a minimum number of hours worked is added, only 46% of private sector workers are eligible for leave under the FMLA.

"[101] Although much of the research has been conducted on populations in other countries,[102] Berger et al.[103] found that children in the United States whose mothers return to work within the first 3 months after giving birth are less likely to be breastfed, have all of their immunizations up to date (by 18 months), and receive all of their regular medical checkups; they are also more likely to exhibit behavioral problems by four years of age.

Chatterji and Markowitz [104] also found an association between longer lengths of maternity leave and lesser incidence of depression among mothers.

This has encouraged several proposals to create a public system of free child care, or for the government to subsidize parents' costs.

[106] Proponents of the law focused on its benefit to men and children, in order to counter the claim that it was giving women "special treatment.

[107] However, this is based on the assumption that men will take advantage of the opportunity of unpaid leave at comparable rates to women.

For instance, any woman-specific benefits provided by the legislation were considered special treatment and thus unacceptable, and ignoring the idea that women may have a greater share of burden of caregiving in reality.

In retort, supporters may argue that creating such legislation that recognizes the female's greater role in child care, stereotype would be reinforced.

[113] Vicki Yandle, a receptionist who was fired after asking for a few weeks of time off to care for a daughter with cancer, was on stage with President Clinton when the law was signed.