February 22, 2006

By EMMA DUMAIN
Contributing Writer

“ I want someone to tell me what’s more important than caring for one’s family,” says Dr. Jay Fathi, a family physician at Swedish Medical Center. “It’s the most important thing in the world — simple as that.”

Fathi speaks from experience: he took time off from work to help his wife care for their newborn son.

“ It was crucial that I be there,” he says. “My wife had an unexpected C-section, our baby was colic, and breastfeeding was a huge emotional commitment. She needed someone there supporting her.”

He and his wife were both able to leave work for three months by saving money and forgoing vacation days. But what really made time off possible was the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The federal FMLA protects workers from losing their jobs and health insurance for up to 12 weeks in the event of a family illness, personal ailment, or the arrival of a new baby. The 12 weeks may be taken at once or intermittently, allowing flexibility for doctors’ visits, for example. While FMLA does not pay absent employees, their jobs are kept open for the 12-week duration.

To strengthen workers’ benefits, activists are pushing to establish an FMLA bill specifically for Washington. Everything about the state bill would be the same, except for two important revisions. One would change the minimum number of employees to 25, whereas now only businesses of 50 or more get FMLA coverage; the other would give domestic partners the same status as spouses. Under consideration this month in the State Senate and House labor committees, the bill would cover an additional 330,000 workers.

Steve Olson, the director of the 40-employee Olympia Childcare Center, particularly wants to see the 25-employee minimum implemented. Even without being officially eligible, Olson has found ways to help staff in difficult situations — like the teacher who had to take time off when her brother suffered a coma from a severe car accident.

“ If her absence was to continue for an unknown period of time, we would’ve had to say, ‘We can’t hold your position open any longer,” Olson says. “Fortunately, she thinks she can return next month. If we can make this work without being officially eligible, I don’t see why other businesses can’t do the same.”

Proponents of FMLA are also responding to the U.S. Chamber of Congress’ threats to impose restrictions on essential rights granted to workers under current law. Such restrictions would redefine a”serious health condition” from three days of incapacity and treatment to 10 days, give employers “checklists” to verify that a worker’s number of absentees is “typical,” and eliminate the option of intermittent leave for less than half a day.

“ This has been a priority of the Chamber of Commerce for quite some time,” says Marilyn Watkins, the policy director at the Economic Opportunities Institute. “They see the possibility of a friendly administration in the White House right now, so they are taking advantage of that.”

“ These restrictions could happen anytime,” echoes EOI communications director Laura Paskin,” so we want FMLA as a state law not only to help more workers, but also to solidify it in Washington.”

Fathi has consistently seen the significance of FMLA in his job as a physician for low-income individuals.

“ A patient recently injured his finger on the job,” Fathi says. “It became so infected he almost lost it. He didn’t ask for time off to get treatment because he was afraid he’d lose his job. I’m sure he wasn’t aware that FMLA could have helped him.

“ At our clinic, people express this fear all the time. They feel they have to choose between their job and their health.”

While FMLA guarantees job protection and health insurance, unpaid leave is not always possible. According to the Department of Labor, 78 percent of those eligible for leave under FMLA said they declined it because they needed the money.

“ Ideally, we’d like everyone to have paid leave,” Watkins says. “There are many things about FMLA we’d like to see different, and we’re working towards that.”

“ It’s an imperfect system,” Fathi concedes,”[but] this is an issue that transcends statistics; it is an issue about human dignity and compassion.”