    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [February 5, 1993]
    [Pages 50-51]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
    February 5, 1993

        Today, I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 1, the ``Family and
    Medical Leave Act of 1993.'' I believe that this legislation is a
    response to a compelling need--the need of the American family for
    flexibility in the workplace. American workers will no longer have to
    choose between the job they need and the family they love.
        This legislation mandates that public and private employers with at
    least fifty workers provide their employees with family and medical
    leave. At its core is the provision for employees to take up to 12 weeks
    of unpaid leave for the care of a newborn or newly adopted child, for
    the care of a family member with a serious medical condition, or for
    their own illness. It also requires employers to maintain health
    insurance coverage and job protection for the duration of the leave. It
    sets minimum length of service and hours of work requirements before
    employees become eligible.
        The need for this legislation is clear. The American workforce has
    changed dramatically in recent years. These changes have created a
    substantial and growing need for family and medical leave for working
    Americans.
        In 1965, about 35 percent of mothers with children under 18 were
    labor force participants. By 1992, that figure had reached 67 percent.

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    By the year 2005, one of every two people entering the workforce will be
    women.
        The rising cost of living has also made two incomes a necessity in
    many areas of this country, with both parents working or looking for
    work in 48 percent, or nearly half, of all two parent families with
    children in the United States.
        Single parent families have also grown rapidly, from 16 percent of
    all families with children in 1975 to 27 percent in 1992. Finally, with
    America's population aging, more working Americans have to take time off
    from work to attend to the medical needs of elderly parents.
        As a rising number of American workers must deal with the dual
    pressures of family and job, the failure to accommodate these workers
    with adequate family and medical leave policies has forced too many
    Americans to choose between their job security and family emergencies.
    It has also resulted in inadequate job protection for working parents
    and other employees who have serious health conditions that temporarily
    prevent them from working. It is neither fair nor necessary to ask
    working Americans to choose between their jobs and their families--
    between continuing their employment and tending to their own health or
    to vital needs at home.
        Although many enlightened companies have recognized the benefits to
    be realized from a system providing for family and medical leave, not
    all do. We all as a nation must join hands and extend the ethic of long-
    term workplace relationships and reciprocal commitment between employer
    and employee. It is only when workers can count on a commitment from
    their employer that they can make their own full commitments to their
    jobs. We must extend the success of those forward-looking workplaces
    where high-performance teamwork has already begun to take root and where
    family and medical leave already is accepted.
        Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics support the conclusion that
    American business has been fully responsive to the need of workers for
    family and medical leave. This data showed that, in 1991, for private
    business establishments with 100 workers or more, 37 percent of all
    full-time employees (and 19 percent of all part-time employees) had
    unpaid maternity leave available to them, and only 26 percent of all
    full-time employees in such establishments had unpaid paternity leave
    available. The most recently available data for smaller business
    establishments (those with fewer than 100 workers) are for 1990, and
    show that only 14 percent of all these employees had unpaid maternity
    leave available, and only 6 percent had unpaid paternity leave
    available.
        The insufficient response to the family and medical leave needs of
    workers has come at a high cost to both the American family and to
    American business. There is a direct correlation between health and job
    security in the family home and productivity in the workplace. When
    businesses do not give workers leave for family needs, they fail to
    establish a working environment that can promote heightened
    productivity, lessened job turnover, and reduced absenteeism.
        We all bear the cost when workers are forced to choose between
    keeping their jobs and meeting their personal and family obligations.
    When they must sacrifice their jobs, we all have to pay more for the
    essential but costly safety net. When they ignore their own health needs
    or their family obligations in order to keep their jobs, we all have to
    pay more for social services and medical care as neglected problems
    worsen.
        The time has come for Federal legislation to bring fair and sensible
    family and medical leave policies to the American workplace. Currently,
    the United States is virtually the only advanced industrialized country
    without a national family and medical leave policy. Now, with the
    signing of this bill, American workers in all 50 States will enjoy the
    same rights as workers in other nations. This legislation balances the
    demands of the workplace with the needs of families. In supporting
    families, it promotes job stability and efficiency in the American
    workplace.
        The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 sets a standard that is
    long overdue in working America. I am very pleased to sign this
    legislation into law.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,
    February 5, 1993.

    Note: H.R. 1, approved February 5, was assigned Public Law No. 103-3.