I had heard about FMLA here and there, sort of knew what its purpose was, but really did not need it. Honestly who wants to need something like this?
Then it happened.
Ok, it may not have been that dramatic,
but try telling a mother that.
My life is far from simple, but whose
life is really. I just have my own crazy twists and turns.
This past May my son, who has high
functioning autism, got removed from school, pending out of district placement.
Not even a week after this, my daughter almost overdosed on Tylenol. It was at
this moment I felt I needed to take a Family Medical Leave from my work and
come home to help get my children back on track and stabilized.
I did not plan to be away from work long..I did not plan for
it to take until July to get a school that could handle my son. I did not plan
for all that occurred.
Yes, it was bullshit and I realized
that I need to take a few additional steps since I really did not know how long
it would take to get things back in order.
So I went to the website for the
application for Family Medical Leave.
I downloaded the necessary
forms which did not take me long. Then I contacted my daughter's doctor. She
went from ICU to a Inpatient treatment program, then to partial inpatient,
then intensive outpatient, etc.Getting in touch with a specialist and
getting them to do the paperwork is almost impossible if you have to go through
the receptionist.
Finally I got it back and
sent it to my place of employment.
There are three primary
things about FMLA to protect you and your job by the law that was established
in such situations.
(1) Has been employed by the employer for at least 12
months, and
(2) Has been employed for at least 1,250 hours of service
during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of the leave
( see § 825.801 for special hours of service requirements
for airline flight crew employees), and
(3) Is employed at a work-site where 50 or more employees
are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that work-site. See § 825.105(b)
regarding employees who work outside the U.S.
I met the requirements of Step 1,
being employed with the company for almost 3 years. Step 2, I met as I was
working 40 or more hours each week prior to my leave. Then I reached Step 3,
and the company did not meet the qualifications. They did not have the 50
employee base needed to qualify me for the FMLA.
When I found out, I actually set down on my
back steps and for some reason, I really needed to cry. I did not cry though. I
found myself falling into this black hole of thinking. How many places of
employment could met this requirement? I am sure that if I had a degree, and
worked at a larger corporation, the government would protect myself
and my lively hood. I would be making more money, but would a larger company be
as family friendly as the one I spent three years of my life at. I don't think
so, I remember well working at a large company that would have met this
requirement. I remember all to well have an emergency at the school with my son
that I had to leave work and after that, every time I turned around, I was
getting wrote up for little things. When I was needed for my kids, I went to
them. A larger corporation found me dispensable. The job would have been
gone long before there was ever an opportunity to file for such.
I was not angry, concerned that the company I worked
for would deliberately do me wrong, I felt that my own government did though.
It feels that the government protects big business and overlooks the
smaller businesses and those they employee.
Can McDonald's, Burger King, WaWa, Debs, PepBoys, Staples,
can any of these stores meet the 50 employee minimum needed for an employee to
be protected? I honestly don't know, I guess it depends on numerous things. I
did learn one lesson though. If you have children with disabilities, you should
really inquire if the company meets that one tiny little FMLA guideline because
you never know what may happen in life and you need the government to protect
and serve you as your family protected and served it.
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