Systemic Racism and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Using Critical Race Theory to Build Equitable Family Leave Policies

Past and current policies have led to the creation and sustainment of systemic racism. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a key contributor to sustaining health disparities for working Black women in the USA. Black women have a longstanding history of disadvantage and the current family leave policies make this demographic more vulnerable to economic hardship and eventually disparate health outcomes. Using data from the Family and Medical Leave Act in 2012 – Employee Survey (N = 1266), this study conducts logistic regression analyses to examine if this policy disparately benefits white men and white women compared to women of color. Respondents were categorized into leave takers (those who took family and medical leave as needed), leave needers (those who had an unmet need for leave), and employed only (those who neither needed nor took leave). As hypothesized, Black working women (vs. White working men) have the highest odds of having an unmet need for taking a leave followed by Latina women. In addition, Black working women (vs. White working men) had the highest odds of difficulty in making ends meet when they did take leave. The authors also conduct a policy analysis of the FMLA through a critical race theory (CRT) lens to offer policy recommendations, which deconstruct the role structural racism plays in the structure and implementation of the FMLA.