12/30/2019 0 Comments Family Related Issues Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 wordsFamily Related Issues - Assignment Example Department of Labor, 2010). Logically, if a loco parentis is a suitably related person to the employee to qualify for care under the FMLA, then a biological father, regardless of the quality or quantity of his parenting, qualifies. Legally, the law designates “biological†parent, but that brings up an interesting dilemma: what about a biological parent who gave up his/her child for adoption? In recent years, many adopted children have found their biological parents, or vice versa. Does the parent who relinquished his/her rights as the child’s parent qualify as a parent under the FMLA? Taking the law literally, s/he does because s/he is the biological parent. However, a judge may not interpret the spirit of the law in that way. The caveat for such tenuous relationships between employee and parent is the fact that the employee must document his/her relationship with the parent before taking family leave. In the same paragraph of the FMLA that defines the relationships eligible for family leave, section j, titled “Documenting relationships,†it says, “For purposes of confirmation of family relationship, the employer may require the employee giving notice of the need for leave to provide reasonable documentation or statement of family relationship. This documentation may take the form of a simple statement from the employee, or a child's birth certificate, a court document, etc. The employer is entitled to examine documentation such as a birth certificate, etc.†(U.S. Department of Labor, 2010). It seems as if the employer could demand some sort of unrealistic documentation of the eligibility of parent or employee to qualify for the family leave especially if time was an issue (i.e., the parent was dying), so if an employer wanted to prevent an employee from taking family leave, s/he could be in compliance with the law, but just unreasonable about the proof of the right to do so. That would probably discourage most employees from attempting to take family leave. 2. Explain whether the size of the business can have any effect on whether Tony is eligible for family leave under the FMLA. The size of a business does matter. In the video, “Family Related Issues: Family and Medical Leave Act,†in response to Tony, the employee’s verbal request for leave, Herman, the boss, replies, “That's out of the question. This is a small business. Everyone is crucial.â€Â Tony answers, “Small? You've got more than fifty employees, if you count everyone.†Herman counters with “Not full-time employees.†In Herman’s mind allowing Tony three weeks for family leave would cause him to lose money. He has just praised Tony for being the top salesman (Family and Medical Leave Act, 2004). However, Herman is wrong. Not all employers are required by federal law to allow family leave, but those with 50 or more employees are. Paragraph 825.105 of the FMLA gives a lengthy description of how an employer, by virtue of the number of employees s/he employs, must comply with the federal law. Some of the more obvious characteristics that make an employer obliged to comply is the location of his/her business. That is, it must be within the United States or
0 Comments
In her book “How Jews Became White Folkâ€, Karen Brodkin examines the question of how Jews came to be regarded as White. She does this by first explaining how Jews were racially categorized prior to this time, and how they were considered to be inferior to the white race. Whiteness is and has always relied on continually renegotiated interpretations; that has more to do with ones social class rather than skin color. The argument that Brodkin presents is that the claim of whiteness are extended to certain races or ethnic groups at certain times, and that the past experiences of these groups cannot wipe away such indisputable social facts.
Brodkin believes that the only way to successfully assimilate into the United States is by becoming “whiteâ€. What does it mean to be “whiteâ€? The history of the United States clearly “shows changing notions of whiteness to be part of America’s larger system of institutional racism.†(Brodkin, 1994). Being “white†has its advantages, just as it has its downfalls; I guess you can say it is a double edge sword. To be accepted into the dominant class one may have to shed part of their identity; yet, the rewards for doing this are not what one expects them to be. Yet, what is interesting is how the shift of Jews from being categorized from racial other, to not-quite-white, to white shows us how race in the United States has been constructed. She then goes on to insist that after WWII Jews had increasingly profited from the assortment of social policies set up to aid the rising middle class, like providing them with financial support to pay for their education and loans for houses from the Federal Housing Administration (Brodkin, 1994). She describes the G.I. Bill as “â€the most massive affirmative action program in American history†(Brodkin, 1994). What we need to take into consideration is that these social policies were not extended in the same proportion to African Americans and Latinos. Both groups were denied loans to buy their houses and when they were approved for a loan, they would be approved for lesser amounts; therefore restricting them from living amongst “whitesâ€. While Jews have in fact been successful in assimilating into the white America, others have not been successful. One example of this is Latino immigrants, not because they don’t want to but rather it comes from bad past experiences. They are expected to assimilate, but at the same time they are denied legal status and even worst they face the change of being deported at any time. In addition, what many fail to understand is the Latinos, especially Mexicans and African Americans have a much different and unique role within the United States, quite different than Jews or Italians will ever have. To begin, those of us with Latino blood in us have a history that in one way or another originates from this land, something that no white person can claim. As a conquered people we will always remain a threat to whites. African Americans on the other hand were brought by force from another continent only to become slave labor and although their roots are in Africa; this is the only land they have ever known. How Jews Became White Folk does an excellent job at making the reader reflect these unique roles that we have had to take with our society, I would have wanted for Brodkin to elaborate a little more on the definition of whiteness. We can only make that conclusion on our own. Works Cited: Karen, Brodkin (1994). How Jews Became White Folks & What That Says About Race in America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. |