Leave of Absence
A variety of reasons and rationales led the federal lawmakers to conclude that it was in the best interests of the nation to create laws that impose some regulations on the granting of leave rights in private workplaces. However, before a government can enact any law, it must generally find a constitutional or statutory basis to do so. For instance, the federal government has a discrete list of powers that are listed in the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, Congress' authority to create workplace leave laws must be derived, for the most part, from an exercise of at least one of those powers. In the area of leave laws, Congress' authority has been essentially based on the following powers: the 14th Amendment (equal protection and anti-discrimination); the regulation of anything that affects commerce (trade or economies) between the individual states; the federal judicial powers to hear and decide lawsuits; and providing a national military.
From its powers described above, Congress has created what appears to be a limited set of federal laws for employees leave rights. However, the mandates and requirements are far reaching in scope. Some examples of federal leave laws are:
- Family And Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- American With Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Title VII - Related Leave
- Federal Military Leave
- Jury System Improvements Act
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