Continuation of post last week introducing various HR issues being addressed in Washington DC and providing more information on each topic.

Congress and President-elect Barack Obama both support some sort of expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This will probably include lowering the coverage threshold from 50 to 25 employees and allowing workers to take leave for elder care, school-parental leave and domestic violence situations. You will probably also see the new Administration support efforts to make FMLA leave paid, rather than unpaid. Finally, efforts to require most businesses to provide employees with a certain amount of paid sick leave will also gain momentum.