2.05.26 – FMLA: 33 Years of Access to Worker Health Protections

APFA Celebrates the 33rd Anniversary of the Passage of Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Thursday, February 5, 2026

💡 Did you know that in 2025, APFA Flight Attendants relied on FMLA for 296,686 days? FMLA health-related absences include Maternity, bonding with a child, consecutive or intermittent personal health concerns, and caring for family members with health concerns.

Today, we commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the passage of FMLA. This landmark law has protected Workers’ rights to take time off for family and medical reasons without risking their jobs or health insurance. Before its enactment on February 5th, 1993, many employees faced difficult choices between their health or family needs and their job security.

FMLA allows eligible employees of covered employers to take up to 12 weeks of leave for family and medical reasons while maintaining health insurance coverage and assurance of a job to return to. However, Flight Attendants were initially excluded from this Worker protection, and it was not until December 21st, 2009, that the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act was signed into law providing Flight Attendants access to FMLA protections. The amendment passage specifically established an hours-of-service eligibility requirement compatible with how flight crews attain flight hours. FMLA is critical for workers with employers that do not offer flexibility or human-factor considerations when experiencing health-related hardships, at times even caused by their working environment.

With Workers’ rights consistently under attack, we must remember that Worker protections, such as FMLA, were never given to us. The passage of the FMLA technical corrections bill was a long and hard-fought battle led by a coalition of Unions. Activists spent countless volunteer hours on Capitol Hill and in crew rooms helping Flight Attendants call and sign postcards to their Senators and Representatives.

As 28,000 members of the modern-day Labor movement, we must continue to advance basic fairness and dignity for all workers, and as we fight forward, we recommit to defending and extending the rights of working people. We should never take Worker benefits and protections for granted. Stay engaged.

Click the image below to view the 30-year commemoration of FMLA in 2023. A Flight Attendant specific story begins at minute marker 6:42.

Do you have FMLA-related questions?

• Contact the Absence and Return Center (ARC): 1-800-447-2000.
• Visit JetNet for FMLA policy: https://jetnet.aa.com/sites/policy-center/knowledgearticle/283892/family-and-medical-leave-act-fmla-policy
• Visit the APFA website for FMLA information including how to navigate the process: https://www.apfa.org/resources/health/#loa
• Connect with the APFA Health Department: text 817-382-1575 (Monday-Friday 9am-5pm CT).

In Solidarity,

Allie Malis
Lori Vitto-Glattly
APFA Government Affairs Representatives
[email protected]

Hayley Brewer
APFA National Health Department Chair
[email protected]