Working adults who are eligible and can afford FMLA unpaid leave (percent) by race/ethnicity

diversitydatakids.org calculations of Current Population Survey, 2014-2017 March Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Public Use Microdata Files, IPUMS-CPS, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org.

Unequal access to FMLA leave persists

A working adult is an individual aged 16 and older who reported working at a job or business at any time during the previous calendar year (as of time of survey in each of the four years of the time period) including temporary, part-time, or seasonal work even for a few days. A worker is estimated to "be eligible and can afford" FMLA leave if 1) they are estimated to be eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and 2) they live in a family with a total family income at or above 200% of the federal poverty level after subtracting estimated lost wages from taking unpaid leave. When estimating whether working adults are eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employment measures available in the Current Population Survey do not align exactly with FMLA eligibility criteria. Therefore, to minimize overestimation of eligibility, we follow similar eligibility estimation procedures outlined in the Department of Labor's 2012 Worksite Survey, which differ slightly from the full FMLA legal criteria. Data used for calculating this indicator are drawn from surveys and are therefore subject to sampling variability; indicator values should be compared with caution.