FMLA - Hospitalized family member

Coriolanus · April 2002

Is an otherwise eligible employee entitled to FMLA leave under the following circumstances?
1. To spend time (in this case, several days in a row) in the hospital with a teenage child recovering from injuries received in an automobile accident. The employee could probably get certification because in my experience physicians provide it just about any time a person asks. But there is no evidence that the teenager's life is in jeopardy, nor that the employee is actually providing the care (the hospital staff is doing that).
2. To spend time in the hospital/nursing home with an aging parent with Alzheimer's disease and another extended illness. Again, the employee can probably get certification, because the nursing home staff benefit from the help, but I question whether it is an employer's responsibility to make the employee available to provide care when that's what the nursing home staff are supposed to be doing.

Margaret Morford · April 2002

If the teenage child is hospitalized, the parent should get FMLA. It doesn't matter that the hospital staff is there. Any doctor will certify that the parent's presence will assist in recovery.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Janet · April 2002

First situation--yes, since the child is hospitalized, FMLA is applicable.
Second situation--if the relative's doctor will provide certification of an FMLA-qualifying condition, sounds to me as if FMLA is applicable. These are the ones I detest, because the EE probably wants intermittent leave, which is a pain to track.

Ruskanen · April 2002

Hospitals and nursing homes are often understaffed and the employees are overworked. Sometimes the patients don't get the care they need, or if they are incoherent they won't know what care they are getting. My mother was recently in the hospital and they gave her the incorrect medication more than once. Would you want to leave a teenage child or elderly parent alone in that situation if you had the option to be there to help make sure they are getting the proper care?

Coriolanus · April 2002

I agree with all the concerns you express. But I still question whether the framers of the FMLA intended to make it the family member's employer's obligation to address those problems -- that is, inadequate staffing in nursing homes and hospitals. As an administrator of a caregiving social service agency, WE have found ourselves in the position of being inadequately staffed because a skilled employee is out on long term FML. It seems to me that the burden has been unfairly shifted. What good is a nursing home if a family member still needs to be present (and thus miss work) to care for the patient?

FMLA - Hospitalized family member

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