HOW FMLA AND OTHER LAWS APPLY TO CAREGIVERS

As a caregiver, you have rights, including those that may be provided for you under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), to take a job leave to care for your seriously ill family member.

In addition to the federal law, you may be provided some relief under state laws. Knowing which laws apply to you, as a caregiver, and how to approach your employer can ease the stress and help you get everything you are entitled to in terms of benefits and leave time.

What Federal Law Offers

If you are eligible under FMLA, you can take a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for a variety of reasons, including taking care of an immediate family member (spouse, child or parent) with a serious health condition, including cancer.

Eligible employees have been employed for at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months immediately before the requested leave, and are at a worksite where 50 or more employees are employed by the company within 75 miles of that worksite. Employers with 50 or more workers are covered by the Act.

If you are covered by FMLA, you get the right to take a medical leave, if your request is valid, and have your job back (or an equivalent job, defined as one with the same pay, benefits and responsibilities) when you return. But, it does not include the right to be paid.

For additional information: US. Department of Labor

Handling the Logistics of FMLA

Both you and your employer are required to communicate about FMLA rights and requests. Employers are bound to notify their workers about their FMLA rights and you are asked to provide 30 days notice of your need for leave, if the need is "foreseeable." If you don't know that far ahead, or the circumstances change, you are required to request the leave as soon as it is practical. You, as a worker-caregiver, must also give your employer enough information to know that it is a FMLA-eligible leave.

As a worker-caregiver, you must tell your employer that you need to take time off to care for a relative with a "serious health condition." Your employer can ask you to prove it. In that case, you would provide certification from the patient's health care provider.

Check your State Laws

Depending on where you work, you could be afforded more help under state laws. (Or your state may have additional FMLA requirements). For instance, at least 26 states have regulations or laws that will permit caregivers, if they are public employees, to use their sick leave to provide care for certain sick family members, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families, a Washington, D.C, based organization that helped to push for FMLA and other protections.

The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Washington.

And in five states, private employers are required to allow you as a worker to use your sick leave to care for certain sick family members. The states include California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota and Washington.

For additional information: National Partnership

California's New Plan--An Omen?

Beginning in July 2004, California workers will be able to receive up to six weeks of partial pay every year if they must have time off to care for a seriously ill family member (including parents, child, spouse or domestic partner). The new law also applies to the need to care for a new child.

California's new law will be looked at closely, experts say, to see if it will turn into a nationwide model. Workers in California who contribute to the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program and must care for a seriously ill parents, child, spouse or domestic partner (as well as a new child) can qualify for this new program, also called the Family Temporary Disability Insurance (FTDI) program.

Under this new law, experts say, employers with fewer than 50 employees are not required to hold a job for you if you go on paid family leave. But it does provide for paying you about 55% of your usual wages . Both SDI and FTDI programs are funded by employee payroll deductions. Contributions made by workers provide the partial wage replacement while workers take time off for caregiving and other family needs. It provides for up to six weeks of leave a year.

For additional information: Employment Development Department

SOURCES:

Deven McGraw, policy counsel and attorney, National Partnership for Women and Families; a nonprofit educational and advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., which helped to lead the effort for FMLA in 1993.

Deanna Gelak, Executive Director of the FMLA Corrections Coalition and President of Working for the Future; a Virginia-based organization which promotes work-family flexibility.