http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_9_50/ai_n15627798

Grandparent care, health premiums, educational aid
HR Magazine, Sept, 2005 by Glynda R. Parker, Shari Lau, Diane Lacy

Q We have an employee seeking time off to care for a grandparent who has a serious health condition. Does FMLA leave cover caregiving for a grandparent?

A The overall intent of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was to help employees balance work demands without hindering their ability to attend to personal and family needs.

The FMLA provides eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the treatment of their own serious medical condition or that of a spouse, parent, son or daughter. The FMLA also provides leave for the birth of a child or the placement of a child for adoption or foster care. Finally, the FMLA provides employees assurance of job protection and reinstatement rights during these often-sensitive and crisis-filled periods.

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Many employees and employers applaud this groundbreaking legislation. Yet many also feel that the FMLA focused solely on the traditional family structure and neglected to factor in the modern-day family, which includes extended family members. One such perceived exclusion is that of the role often assumed by grandparents in the rearing of their grandchildren.

The FMLA defines the term "parent" as the biological parent of an employee or as an individual who stood "in loco parentis" to an employee when the employee was a minor. FMLA regulations further defining "parent" can be found in Section 825.113 of the Department of Labor's FMLA regulations.

The FMLA does not protect a leave of absence to provide care for a grandparent unless the employee can demonstrate that the grandparent stood "in loco parentis"--that is, had the responsibility of providing day-to-day care and financial support for the employee during childhood. The FMLA does not require a legal or biological relationship to establish "in loco parentis."

FMLA regulations do allow states to offer more-generous coverage and broader definitions of family members. For example, the family and medical leave law in Washington, D.C., defines a family member as any blood relative. Hawaii's definition of family members includes grandparents as well as grandparents-in-law. Employers are advised to review their states' FMLA laws.

For a link to comparisons between state FMLA leave coverage and federal FMLA rules, see the online version of this item in the HR Solutions section at www.shrm.org/hrnews.

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• thank you. Seems not qualify for FMLA. -work_hard- ♀ (0 bytes) () 03/31/2010 postreply 12:56:19