The Impact of Leave Length on After Leave Experience under Family and Medical Leave Policy in the U.S.

This research examines employee experiences under the Family and Medical Leave Policy in the United States and to what extent the length of leave affects the post-leave employment experience. The data source comes from the Family Medical Leave Act Employee Survey, which was conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2018. This research further investigates whether females are more likely to be discriminated against than males and whether the eligibility of FMLA would decrease the possibility of being treated differently. Three hypotheses were 1) the longer leave one takes, the higher the possibility of being treated differently; 2) females have a higher possibility than males of being treated differently; and 3) FMLA-eligible employees have less possibility than their counterparts of being treated differently. This study found that longer leave length is associated with a higher possibility of being treated differently. Another important finding is that females have a higher possibility than males of being treated differently after controlling for other factors. Also, this study suggests that there is no significant difference between FMLA eligible groups and non-FMLA eligible groups. This study discussed policy implications regarding the length of most recent leave and gender, including the need to expand the length and types of family leave coverage, the need for government-mandated paid leave, and approaches for increasing employee knowledge of leave rights.