here to talk does is judith lichtman. welcome to the program. first, tell us, what is the family and medical leave act? guest: it is an important law that was passed 20 years ago. almost exactly 20 years ago. it says a couple of important things. it says that if you have a serious health condition your self, or if you need time to take time off from work to care for a newborn or newly adopted child or a seriously ill child or a seriously ill spouse or a parent, you can take that time off without losing your job. the law provides for 12 weeks of unpaid leave. it is not paid leave, but it protects your job. i am happy to tell you in a recent survey released by the labor department on monday, it has been used more than 100 million times. it is a mind-boggling number, but a true number. it has been used a lot to help american working families. host: to go along with those numbers, women make up 56% of the employees who took leave in the past year. is this primarily just for pregnancies and having children, or is it also to take care of family member