FMLA

[jreeds]

Just checking in to see if anyone has any experience with this? As we get further down this road I am needing to take more & more time away from work. My boss is extremely understanding so far, thankfully. I'm just wondering if you did use FMLA, how was it beneficial to you. Another thought I'd considered is shortening my hours. But considering most things that come up aren't necessarily on a set day of the week it might be hard to determine what hours I would want to cut.

[ohgillian]

I've used it twice; once was for intermittent leave and once was for a long-term leave period. I'm not sure what you're asking -- it was beneficial in that I didn't get fired. What specific questions do you have? I can definitely relate to having a lot of appointments that take you away from work. When my daughter was young and super sick, I just went out on a long-term leave of about 6 months; part of it was FMLA protected and then the next part was protected by a different form of leave my employer offers.

[jreeds]

Mar 26, 2019 8:18:08 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

I've used it twice; once was for intermittent leave and once was for a long-term leave period. I'm not sure what you're asking -- it was beneficial in that I didn't get fired. What specific questions do you have? I can definitely relate to having a lot of appointments that take you away from work. When my daughter was young and super sick, I just went out on a long-term leave of about 6 months; part of it was FMLA protected and then the next part was protected by a different form of leave my employer offers.

Well, I'm just trying to figure out for myself if it's really necessary in my current situation. If I needed it, it seems like it'd be intermittent.  I have to take a lot of time off for appts for him, and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him. So far my boss is very understanding and has not given me any sort of trouble so I guess I don't really need to use it because my job is not at risk. I'm just worried going forward because we're going to be getting him into ABA in addition to his current therapies and also in general summer is a bit of a cluster because we haven't been able to find a good fit for camp and we're often called to pick him up. That might change once we get into ABA and see what that brings.

[ohgillian]

Mar 26, 2019 9:41:48 GMT -5 jreeds said:

Mar 26, 2019 8:18:08 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

I've used it twice; once was for intermittent leave and once was for a long-term leave period. I'm not sure what you're asking -- it was beneficial in that I didn't get fired. What specific questions do you have? I can definitely relate to having a lot of appointments that take you away from work. When my daughter was young and super sick, I just went out on a long-term leave of about 6 months; part of it was FMLA protected and then the next part was protected by a different form of leave my employer offers.

Well, I'm just trying to figure out for myself if it's really necessary in my current situation. If I needed it, it seems like it'd be intermittent.  I have to take a lot of time off for appts for him, and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him. So far my boss is very understanding and has not given me any sort of trouble so I guess I don't really need to use it because my job is not at risk. I'm just worried going forward because we're going to be getting him into ABA in addition to his current therapies and also in general summer is a bit of a cluster because we haven't been able to find a good fit for camp and we're often called to pick him up. That might change once we get into ABA and see what that brings.

Do you have sick leave that you're able to use for the appointments? In my current job I have enough sick leave that I'm allowed to use whenever, so I am not using FMLA even though I take a fair amount of time out for appts.

I *totally* hear you about summer, and camps, and getting called to pick your kid up. UGGGGGGGH. It's so frustrating.

[jreeds]

Mar 26, 2019 9:44:29 GMT -5 ohgillian said:

Mar 26, 2019 9:41:48 GMT -5 jreeds said:

Well, I'm just trying to figure out for myself if it's really necessary in my current situation. If I needed it, it seems like it'd be intermittent.  I have to take a lot of time off for appts for him, and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him. So far my boss is very understanding and has not given me any sort of trouble so I guess I don't really need to use it because my job is not at risk. I'm just worried going forward because we're going to be getting him into ABA in addition to his current therapies and also in general summer is a bit of a cluster because we haven't been able to find a good fit for camp and we're often called to pick him up. That might change once we get into ABA and see what that brings.

Do you have sick leave that you're able to use for the appointments? In my current job I have enough sick leave that I'm allowed to use whenever, so I am not using FMLA even though I take a fair amount of time out for appts.

I *totally* hear you about summer, and camps, and getting called to pick your kid up. UGGGGGGGH. It's so frustrating.

All of our time ( sick, vacation etc. ) comes out of the same bank and thankfully I get a good amount since I've been here awhile. I'm constantly running low though and I use most of it for him. 2018 was the first year I took an actual week of vacation off of work in a long time. As long as I give a little bit of notice for using the time I don't get dinged. And last year when school was really bad my boss even gave me a lot of wiggle room when I had to leave to get him with no notice. I guess I should really only worry if my boss were to leave, which he will be at some point soon for retirement.

My thought with the shorter work hours was maybe then he could do some of the half day camps that are about 3 hours and I could get out to pick him up for the day. But I don't know if that would be allowed. I looked at our policy and it's not clear, I'd have to talk to someone in HR.

[AdaraMarie]

I started with intermittent fmla a little over a year ago to get my dd to her appointments, keep up wity meetings at school, and for some flexibility when I had to go pick her up due to behaviors. It proved to me that life was better when I didn't have as much stress about billing 40 hours a week and that we could get by on less money. When my time on fmla ran out I switched to a reduced schedule because my obligations hadn't changed much and I knew it would work financially.

[sahara78]

I’ve looked into intermittent FMLA with my company. My previous boss of 9 years had a son with SN, so she was understanding of the appointments, etc. New boss is more of a workaholic, but so far he hasn’t complained (about time off at least).

I’m going to talk with DDs ABA provider about having a therapist accompany her to a day camp for at least a few weeks this summer. Hoping that would allow her to engage & be less disruptive. Not sure if that will be an option with your provider. We’re also doing a social skills camp for a few weeks ($$$ but hopefully helpful). She’ll do the center based ABA for the rest.

[waverly]

If you qualify for FMLA the department of labor requires that if be mandated whether you or the employer agree or not. It is this because it if for the protection of the worker. 2 visits to a doctor or more for related medical will trigger it.

[jreeds]

Mar 26, 2019 13:02:09 GMT -5 sahara78 said:

I’m going to talk with DDs ABA provider about having a therapist accompany her to a day camp for at least a few weeks this summer. Hoping that would allow her to engage & be less disruptive. Not sure if that will be an option with your provider. We’re also doing a social skills camp for a few weeks ($$$ but hopefully helpful). She’ll do the center based ABA for the rest.

This is what I am hoping for from the ABA center we are trying to get him into. I'm just waiting on them to get the insurance approval and then we'll have our intake appt and that will be one of the first questions I ask. I have heard through the grapevine that this place does do this so I'm hopeful. I've held off signing him up for any camps yet until we find out more. Thankfully, because he does ESY we only need a few weeks of actual camp.

[pipsqueak]

"and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him."

Wait! What? Was he sick on those days?

[jreeds]

Mar 29, 2019 0:10:24 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

"and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him."

Wait! What? Was he sick on those days?

Nope. We had a major issue with the school last year and the early part of this year where when he had a meltdown, if they couldn't calm him down they would call us. Loooots of back and forth with me trying to explain that they were inadvertently reinforcing that behavior by sending him home.  I ended up having a conversation with  ( and sent a letter to) the principal questioning if a manifestation determination needed to happen and said we would not, under any circumstance agree to keep picking him up ( they had asked if we would agree to that plan). The calls all but stopped and slowly but surely his aggressive outburst dwindled (imagine that). Yesterday he had his first meltdown in school since early December. Now, there are other factors that contributed to that but I absolutely believe he had picked up on "aggressive behavior ='s go home".

[pipsqueak]

Mar 29, 2019 6:32:33 GMT -5 jreeds said:

Mar 29, 2019 0:10:24 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

"and before he started doing much better in school there were times I needed to leave work to pick him up because school wouldn't/couldn't keep him."

Wait! What? Was he sick on those days?

Nope. We had a major issue with the school last year and the early part of this year where when he had a meltdown, if they couldn't calm him down they would call us. Loooots of back and forth with me trying to explain that they were inadvertently reinforcing that behavior by sending him home.  I ended up having a conversation with  ( and sent a letter to) the principal questioning if a manifestation determination needed to happen and said we would not, under any circumstance agree to keep picking him up ( they had asked if we would agree to that plan). The calls all but stopped and slowly but surely his aggressive outburst dwindled (imagine that). Yesterday he had his first meltdown in school since early December. Now, there are other factors that contributed to that but I absolutely believe he had picked up on "aggressive behavior ='s go home".

Not only that but sending him home like that was effectively giving him an out of school suspension and denying him educational time.

Glad that problem has been addressed from the sounds of it.

[jreeds]

Mar 29, 2019 15:55:56 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

Mar 29, 2019 6:32:33 GMT -5 jreeds said:

Nope. We had a major issue with the school last year and the early part of this year where when he had a meltdown, if they couldn't calm him down they would call us. Loooots of back and forth with me trying to explain that they were inadvertently reinforcing that behavior by sending him home.  I ended up having a conversation with  ( and sent a letter to) the principal questioning if a manifestation determination needed to happen and said we would not, under any circumstance agree to keep picking him up ( they had asked if we would agree to that plan). The calls all but stopped and slowly but surely his aggressive outburst dwindled (imagine that). Yesterday he had his first meltdown in school since early December. Now, there are other factors that contributed to that but I absolutely believe he had picked up on "aggressive behavior ='s go home".

Not only that but sending him home like that was effectively giving him an out of school suspension and denying him educational time.

Glad that problem has been addressed from the sounds of it.

Exactly. It was so frustrating. Otherwise his team/school has been extremely accommodating and proactive. I'm definitely more Leary now though.