Unit 7: Family Responsibilities
Lesson 3: Other Family Issues
OBJECTIVES
Learn about funeral leave.
Discuss how to balance taking care of other family members with work.
Understand the Family Medical Leave Act.
MATERIALS
Summary of The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of
1993 (Appendix F)
INSTRUCTIONAL FORMAT
This lesson is designed to help people understand how to balance their work
responsibilities with other family obligations besides child care. Many people
take care of family members who are sick, elderly, or disabled. While employers
understand these issues, they are probably not going to be as flexible when
dealing with these issues as they are with child-care issues.
A family crisis that every working person deals with is a death in a family.
Inform the students that most workplaces have a policy on time off for funerals
of family members. The amount of time a person can take off is going to depend
on the company. It is important for students to understand that just because
a family member was extremely important to them, the employer may not see
it that way and cannot grant extra time off other than to go to the funeral.
One example is if a cousin dies. Most companies do not mention "cousins"
in their funeral leave policy. Even though your cousin may have been your
best friend and closest relative, you may not automatically get three days
of funeral leave. This does not mean that you have to work during this crisis.
It means that you will have to talk to your supervisor and make appropriate
arrangements to get some extra time off. In general, a company's funeral
leave policy is going to apply to the death of a spouse, child, parent,
grandparent, or sibling.
If a student is responsible for the care of a relative because that person
is sick, elderly, or disabled, he or she is probably going to run into some
conflicts with work. Whether a person can use sick time to take care of a
family member is going to depend on the company. Students should plan on
making work a priority. Just as students are encouraged to have back-up plans
for child care, they should have back-up plans for the care of other loved
ones. If a student has arranged for a person to care for a loved one while
the student is at work, he or she should not rely on just one person. He
should speak with other family, friends, and neighbors about being able to
care for a loved one on an emergency basis. Encourage the students to look
into churches and community resources as well.
The information in item two is not intended to discourage people from taking
care of loved ones or missing work to take care of loved ones. It is intended
to let people know that employers are probably not going to be as flexible
with an employee who cares for someone other than his children. If a person
needs to take an afternoon off to take her mother to the doctor or needs
the day off because his father just had surgery, that is fine. If employees
communicate with their supervisors about these arrangements, it should not
be a problem. The problem is when a person misses multiple days in a month
or is consistently called away from work to tend to a loved one.
If an employee is caring for a sick parent or spouse, and needs an extended
period of time off from work, he or she should be aware of the
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Use the information
contained in the summary of the FMLA to discuss how the students can take
leave to care for a parent or spouse and still keep their jobs.
Discuss how to handle family responsibilities at work. It is not appropriate for family members and friends to drop in at work on a frequent basis. If a family member needs to visit you at work, get permission from your supervisor. It should not be a social visit. Emergencies happen to families. There are very few bosses that are not going to understand if you have to leave because someone has been in an accident, someone is stranded with car troubles, or someone is sick. However, if this happens frequently, your boss is going to want to know if you are working for the emergency service or for her. Again, the important thing is communication. Don't leave your job site for 30 minutes to handle a crisis over the phone. Go and talk to your boss and tell him what is up. He may just tell you to leave and take care of the problem. You are no good to an employer if you are thinking about a loved one. The important thing to avoid is spending your work time socializing and doing non-emergency things for your family (ordering things from a catalog, calling your son's coach to talk about his playing time, etc.)
SIGNS OF GENERALIZATION
The student utilizes time-off from work wisely when dealing with the care
of loved ones. When issues relating to taking care of loved ones come up,
she communicates with her employer.
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