Report: Fewer than 15% of managers, employees understand FMLA laws (INFOGRAPHIC)

Listen to this article

Fewer than 15% of managers and employees understand Family and Medical Leave Act laws, according to a recent report based on 2020 survey results.

The second annual “The FMLA and PFL Knowledge Gap 2020: Employee and Manager Insights” report from Majesco compiled survey results from more than 1,000 participants working for businesses with anywhere from 100 to more than 10,000 employees. Managers made up 43% of the respondents, and the rest were employees.

The survey asked what type of employer is required to offer family and medical leave, what benefit FMLA provides, and how long can an employee be absent under the FMLA regulations. In order to be considered knowledgeable, a respondent had to answer all three questions correctly.

The survey found 89% of the managers polled aren’t knowledgeable about FMLA, and 87% of the employees aren’t either. The 2020 report also suggests leave laws are becoming increasingly confusing. In 2019, 67% of the managers correctly identified the type of employer required to offer family and medical leave, up from 49% choosing the right answer in 2020.

“Given the alarming Knowledge Gap among managers, this puts employers tasking managers with this responsibility at a significant compliance risk,” the report said.

Reasons for the decline are unknown, the report said, but researchers speculated that the COVID-19 pandemic had made a difference. They theorized that managers may have been more intent on understanding COVID regulations than employer-leave policies

The infographic below illustrates more findings from the report and ways to educate managers about how to be compliant with FMLA laws. The full report is available to download here.