<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Major amendments </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> No Child Left Behind Act </Td> </Tr> <P> The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job - protected and unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons . These include pregnancy, adoption, foster care placement of a child, personal or family illness, or family military leave . The FMLA is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor . </P> <P> The FMLA was intended "to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families ." The Act allows eligible employees to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 - month period to attend to the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child . In order to be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have been at the business at least 12 months, and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles . The FMLA covers both public - and private - sector employees, but certain categories of employees are excluded, including elected officials and their personal staff members . </P>

When was the family and medical leave act passed