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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic €32.70 /Month

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (France)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Similar content being viewed by others

Essential but Excluded: Using Critical Race Theory to Examine COVID-19 Economic Relief Policies for Undocumented US Workers

Article 13 January 2022

Social Justice and Black Men’s Health

Chapter © 2022

From Everyday Racist Incidents at Work to Institutional Racism: Migrant and Minority-Ethnic Workers’ Experiences in Older-Age Care

Chapter © 2020

Explore related subjects

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  1. Rossin-Slater M. Uniat L. Health Affairs: Paid family leave policies and population health; 2019. Google Scholar
  2. Marmot M. The health gap: the challenge of an unequal world. London: Bloomsbury Publishing; 2015. Google Scholar
  3. Ittai C. The intersection of race and class in maternity leave: who’s left out? [dissertation]. University of Central Florida; 2018.
  4. Gupta S, Mackall AS. Critical race theory in health policy: a conceptual framework for racial equity in policy analysis [unpublished article]. Austin: The University of Texas at Austin; 2020. Google Scholar
  5. Braveman PA, Heck K, Egerter S, Marchi KS, Dominguez TP, Cubbin C, et al. The role of socioeconomic factors in Black-White disparities in preterm birth. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(4):694–702. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  6. Whitehead M, Dahlgren G. Concepts and principles for tackling social inequities in health: levelling up part 1. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe: Copenhagen; 2006. Google Scholar
  7. Woolf SH, Braveman P. Where health disparities begin: the role of social and economic determinants—and why current policies may make matters worse. Health Aff. 2011;30(10):1852–9. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  8. Braveman P, Gruskin S. Defining equity in health. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2003;57:254–8. ArticleCASGoogle Scholar
  9. Williams DR, Lawrence JA, Davis BA. Racism and health: evidence and needed research. Ann Rev Pub Health. 2019;40:105–25. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  10. Feagin J. Systemic racism: a theory of oppression. 1st ed. New York: Routledge; 2006. Google Scholar
  11. Bell DA. Brown v. Board of Education and the interest-convergence dilemma. Harv Law Rev. 1980;93(3):518–33. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  12. Gotanda N. A critique of “our constitution is color-blind.”. Stanford Law Rev. 1991;44(1):1–68. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  13. Riley A. Neighborhood disadvantage, residential segregation, and beyond – lessons for studying structural racism and health. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018;5(2):357–65. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  14. Braveman PA, Cubbin C, Egerter S, Williams DR, Pamuk E. Socioeconomic disparities in health in the United States: what the pattern tells us. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(S1):S186–96. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  15. Cubbin C, Kim Y, Vohra-Gupta S, Margerison C. Longitudinal measures of neighborhood poverty and income inequality are associated with adverse birth outcomes in Texas. Soc Sci Med. 2020;245:112665. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  16. Delgado R, Stefancic J. Critical race theory: an introduction, vol. 20. New York (NY): NYU Press; 2017. Google Scholar
  17. Jones CP, Holden KB, Belton A. Strategies for achieving health equity: concern about the whole plus concern about the hole. Ethn Dis. 2019;29:345–8. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  18. Gee GC, Hing A, Mohammed S, Tabor DC, Williams DR. Racism and the life course: taking time seriously. Am J Public Health. 2019;109(S1):S43–7. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  19. Came H, Griffith D. Tackling racism as a “wicked” public health problem: enabling allies in anti-racism praxis. Soc Sci Med. 2018;199:181–8. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  20. Weber A, Harrison TM, Steward D, Lundington-Hoe S. Paid family leave to enhance the health outcomes of preterm infants. Policy Polit Nurs Pract. 2018;19(1–2):11–28. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  21. Sholar MA. Getting paid while taking time: the women’s movement and the development of paid family leave policies in the United States. Philadelphia: Temple University Press; 2016. BookGoogle Scholar
  22. Elison SK. Policy innovation in a cold climate: the family and medical leave act of 1993. J Fam Issues. 1997;18(1):30–54. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  23. Greenfield JC, Klawetter S. Parental leave policy as a strategy to improve outcomes among premature infants. Health Soc Work. 2016 Feb;41(1):17–23. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  24. Jou J, Kozhimannil KB, Abraham JM, Blewett LA, McGovern PM. Paid maternity leave in the United States: associations with maternal and infant health. Matern Child Health J. 2018;22(2):216–25. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  25. Rowe-Finkbeiner K, Martin R, Abrams B, Zuccaro A, Dardari Y. Why paid family and medical leave matters for the future of America’s families, businesses and economy. Matern Child Health J. 2016 Nov;20(Suppl 1):8–12. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  26. Petts RJ. Time off after childbirth and mothers’ risk of depression, parenting stress, and parenting practices. J Fam Issues. 2018;39(7):1827–54. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  27. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reproductive health: preterm birth. 2019. https://cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pretermbirth.htm. Accessed 10 June 2020.
  28. Gupta P, Goldman T, Hernandez E, Rose M. Paid family and medical leave is critical for low-wage workers and their families. 2018. https://www.clasp.org/publications/fact-sheet/paid-family-and-medical-leave-critical-low-wage-workers-and-their-families. Accessed 15 May 2020.
  29. Mayer G. The family and medical leave act (FMLA): policy issues. 2013. https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2316&context=key_workplace. Accessed 6 March 2020.
  30. Catalyst. Women of color in the United States: quick take. 2020. https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-of-color-in-the-united-states/. Accessed 28 Jan 2020.
  31. Daley K, Kennedy C, Schalk M, Pacer J, Ackermann A, Pozniak A, et al. Family and medical leave in 2012: methodology report. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates Inc.; 2012. 63 p Google Scholar
  32. Klerman JA, Daley K, Pozniak A. Family and medical leave in 2012: technical report. Cambridge: Abt Associates Inc.; 2012. 165 p. Report No.: 1 Google Scholar
  33. McGarry N, Klerman JA, Daley K, Pozniak A. Family and medical leave in 2012: revised public use file documentation. Cambridge: Abt Associates Inc.; 2013. 182 p. Report No.: 1 Google Scholar
  34. Milner HR IV. Opening commentary: the permanence of racism, critical race theory, and expanding analytic sites. Peabody J Educ. 2017;92(3):294–301. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  35. National Partnership for Women & Families. Paid family and medical leave: a racial justice issue – and opportunity. Washington, DC: National Partnership for Women & Families; 2018. 11 p Google Scholar
  36. Pew Research Center. Raising kids and running a household: How working parents share the load. 2015. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/11/2015-11-04_working-parents_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 15 May 2020.
  37. Solórzano D, Yossi TJ. Critical race methodology: counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qual Inq. 2002;8(1):23–44. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  38. Davis F. Moving the mountain: the women’s movement in America since 1960. New York: Simon and Schuster; 1991. Google Scholar
  39. Burtle A, Bezruchka S. Population health and paid parental leave: what the United States can learn from two decades of research. Healthcare (Basel). 2016;4(2):1–16. Google Scholar
  40. Census Current Population Survey. 2019. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-pinc/pinc-01.html. Accessed 20 October 2020.
  41. Governing Council of the American Public Health Association. Expanding family and medical leave. 2001. https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.91.3.477. Accessed 12 June 2020.
  42. Stone KVW. Legal protections for atypical employees: employment law for workers without workplaces and employees without employers. Berkeley J Employment Labor Law. 2006;27(2):251–86. Google Scholar
  43. Yang YT, Gimm G. Caring for elder parents: a comparative evaluation of family leave laws. J Law Med Ethics. 2013;41(2):501–13. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  44. Earle A, Heymann J. Protecting the health of employees caring for family members with special health care needs. Soc Sci Med. 2011;73(1):68–78. ArticleGoogle Scholar
  45. Chen M-L. The growing costs and burden of Family caregiving of older adults: a review of paid sick leave and family leave policies. Gerontologist. 2016;56(3):391–6. ArticleGoogle Scholar

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, 1925 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX, 78712, USA Shetal Vohra-Gupta & Catherine Cubbin
  2. Department of Kinesiology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 411 S. Nedderman Drive, Box 19407, Arlington, TX, 76019-0407, USA Yeonwoo Kim
  1. Shetal Vohra-Gupta