A leave of absence is a period of time, sometimes as long as several weeks or months, that an employee is permitted to be absent from work, while retaining the right to return to his job when the leave of absence ends.
Prior to 1993, there were no federal statutes requiring employers to grant leaves of absence to their employees, regardless of the reasons that the employees might have for needing leave from their jobs. The fact that many employers did not voluntarily or consistently allow employees to take leaves of absence became a serious problem in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s when there was a tremendous increase in the number of families in which both parents worked full-time jobs. When faced with situations such as non-work-related illnesses or accidents, or the need to care for sick children or other family members, workers were at risk of either losing their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control, or having to choose between caring for sick family members or retaining their employment.
The federal response to these problems came in 1993, with the enactment of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This federal statute essentially requires many employers to allow employees to take up to 12 weeks off annually to deal with specified medical or other family problems without subjecting them to the risk of losing their jobs.