Family and Medical Leave: Law, Health Care, and Social Services
Course Overview
Family and medical leave law, including both federal and state instruments, constitutes one of a handful of areas in which law typically cannot operate in practice without the direct participation of healthcare practitioners, inclusive of medical and mental health clinicians. This course will review the clinical and social benefits of leave-taking, as well as options and information about the choices clinicians can make to support leave-taking where needed and to properly direct and refer clients who need more specific legal guidance than clinicians are in a position to provide.
Learning Outcomes
Upon the completion of this course, the learner should be able to:
- Outline the types of leave available in the United States.
- Describe the impact of leave-taking on individual, family, and community health.
- Identify common obstacles to leave-taking.
- Discuss the legal rights of workers to take leave.
- Analyze the role of healthcare and social service providers in ensuring access to leave.
About the Author/Presenter
Beth Ribet, PhD, JD, is the co-founder and co-director of Repair, a health and disability justice organization. Dr. Ribet obtained her doctorate in Social Relations (Sociology & Anthropology) from the University of California-Irvine, and her law degree at UCLA, with a specialization in Critical Race Studies. Her areas of expertise include disability and employment, disability civil rights, medical sociology, healthcare advocacy, and social psychology. Her particular research and teaching interests focus on the production of new disabilities and illnesses as a result of violence, exploitation, and inequity and strategies for using law and policy to address the concerns of people disabled or injured by inequity. Dr. Ribet speaks publicly and trains healthcare, legal, and social service practitioners regarding work with vulnerable populations, including but not limited to trafficked and exploited persons, refugees, incarcerated persons, and children and youth with disabilities.
Leslie Bunnage, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology and director of the Lewinson Center for the Study of Labor, Inequality & Social Justice at Seton Hall University. Her research falls within the two main areas of social movement mobilization and strategic formation and labor and inequalities. Her recent projects include an analysis of Internet communication technology as a basis for cohering social movement organization (SMO) messaging and strengthening collective identity (with Deana Rohlinger), and a qualitative study of dehistoricization and rhetoric in the U.S. Tea Party movement. Dr. Bunnage also examines labor movement revitalization and intersectional racial, gender, and socioeconomic barriers to leadership development in the AFL-CIO “Union Summer” youth training program. She is currently developing a socio-legal research agenda examining the impact of family and medical leave law and policy on the materialization of workers’ rights.
Lisa Concoff Kronbeck, JD, graduated from UCLA School of Law in June 2010 and was admitted to the California State Bar later that year. She also holds a master's degree in public policy from the UCLA School of Public Affairs, with a concentration in health and social policy. Following law school, Ms. Concoff Kronbeck worked for two years as a staff attorney in the public benefits unit at Disability Rights California, assisting clients primarily with benefits linked to disability, including Medi-Cal, Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, and In-Home Supportive Services. At present, she is caring for her tiniest client thus far: her young daughter who has Down syndrome.
Audience/Accreditations and Approvals
TRC Healthcare/ NetCE
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by TRC Healthcare/ NetCE. TRC Healthcare/NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
This course is designed for the following healthcare professions (select your profession for details):
Counselor, Nursing, Physician, Social Work
If you require special accommodations, please contact Colibri Healthcare Support by clicking here: Contact Us
