I located respondents for the qualitative component of this research through a state-wide legal information line in California that gave legal advice and assistance to workers. The information line is a free service provided by a private, nonprofit, public-interest law organization. I contacted those individuals who accessed the line within a one-year period from 1998 to 1999 with questions about family or medical leave. Appendix A provides more detailed information about the characteristics of those respondents.

My research benefited from the diverse population that exists in California. My respondents were fairly racially diverse, and spanned a range of ages and household incomes (seeTable A.1). They also came from a variety of workplaces and occupations (see Table A.1). There were more women than men among my respondents, however. Perhaps this is because many of these women took maternity leaves, which tend to be longer in duration and therefore perhaps more contentious in the workplace (Commission on Leave 1996). Also, some scholars suggest that women may experience disproportionate conflict in the workplace over leave to meet family responsibilities (Gwartney-Gibbs 1994).

Again, I emphasize that I make no claim that my respondents are representative of leave takers in general; indeed, one might expect that those who experience conflict over leave would differ from leave takers in general.