Need help wording FMLA papers for care of autistic child

[gillenkl]

Briefly, my mom just had open heart surgery and when she comes home from the hospital I need to be with her for 1-2 weeks as she lives alone and I have no siblings. I am the primary caregiver (24/7) and homeschool teacher of my child who is autism spectrum.

My DH needs to take 2 weeks FMLA to care for my son and homeschool him (it is a law, afterall) while I am taking care of my mother outside of our home.

I cannot figure out how to word this on the FMLA form.

Advice is appreciated. Please.

 

[minkydog]

CAn't you just say what you said here? "Dear Sirs, I am requesting FMLA leave June__,2002 through June__ 2010 to care for my disabled child. His usual caregiver will be unavailable at this time and there is no one else who is capable of caring for him."

 

[clanmcculloch]

Or I would think you could say that you need the FMLA to support the care of his MIL who had open heart surgery. It's the truth. Him staying with your son allows you to go take care of your mother who needs the help for a reason that would qualify for FMLA. Have him talk to his HR rep to find out the best way to word it. It's a legitimate use of FMLA so HR should be willing to help him get the paperwork right.

 

[gillenkl]

thanks for the responses. DH works for the government - and HR said he doesn't qualify for FMLA because there are only 3 reasons to use it:
¨ A new child in the family—by birth, by adoption
or by placement in foster care;
¨ Caring for a family member with a serious health
condition; or
¨ The employee's own serious health condition that
prevents him or her from performing the job.

They do not consider MIL a family member. He was offered LWOP (leave without pay) but we are a 1 income family so that isn't an option. He opted to adjust his hours in the interim. One thing also is that DH has paid vacation scheduled in 3 weeks. They wouldn't even let him switch his vacation and take it now instead. We aren't going anywhere because of my moms recuperation. Thanks for the input though.

 

[elan]

My dh was approved for fmla to help care for our dd with asd. Our doctors filled out the form. They stated that she was under their care and he may need to be available to help her. He only used it sporadically. My dh doesn't get paid for fmla.

 

[clkelley]

Yeah, FMLA is NOT another form of paid leave.

FMLA is a law that ONLY guarantees that the person taking time off for the three reasons stated above will have a job when they return.

Your spouse will be "caring for a family member with a serious health condition" (your son), so it should qualify.

Now some companies may have a form of paid FMLA leave, but FMLA is just a law.

 

[SueM in MN]

The HR people were correct with the only allowable reasons:

The text in italics is from the US Department of Labor:
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. It also seeks to accommodate the legitimate interests of employers and promote equal employment opportunity for men and women.

FMLA applies to all public agencies, all public and private elementary and secondary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. These employers must provide an eligible employee with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:

* for the birth and care of the newborn child of an employee;
* for placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care;
* to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
* to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

As was already mentioned, the FMLA does not guarantee PAID time off, just that you can't be fired for taking time off.

I would probably go with your husband needing to be home to care for a child with a serious health condition (probably the way minkydog stated it, because the child is not acutely ill). I would not mention the home schooling because that is probably not considered 'care' since it is 'education.'

I am going to move this to the disABILITIES Community Board since it is not related to WDW.

 

[rangermom]

DH and I work for the Gov't and we have both used leave under the FMLA. Is he using annual leave or sick leave? If it is annual then he does not need to justify it his supervisor just approves it, but he does for sick leave. I would not mention that he will be homeschooling your son at the time, but say he is taking care of his child with a disability. I would not get into too much detail if not needed.

DS has mild CP and I use SL all the time. Get your son's doctor to write him a note stating that he needs constant care due to the disability. If you have already mentioned the homeschooling to the HR person, then you may have problems so a note may help. HR tends to take the rules very literally and if your present it as DH taking time off to take care and homeschool DS then taking sick leave will not fly.

As a previous poster stated, FMLA is not another form of leave. Your DH is allowed to use 500 hrs of leave a year under this act, but it has to be leave he already has accumulated. The easiest way is for him to take annual leave.

 

[rangermom]

Sorry, I did not realize how old this thread was. Hope everything worked out.