Author Topic: Does your employer give you time off of work to take parents to doctors appts?  (Read 6789 times)

TheOfficeLady

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I recently had a conversation with someone about the rules regarding being able to take time off of work to take a relative/parent to their doctors appointments. Does your employer allow for this?

retired?

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Not working now, but was always in a salaried position and being away for a few hours never kept people from getting their work done.

Fortunately, each manager I've had understood that and it was fine.  No official policy.  Taking a full day off might have been harder, but probably still workable.  If you are doing your work, most managers, I've found, are understanding.

LadyStache

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By law in NYC you can use sick time for this purpose, depending on the relation between you and the individual needing care.

Paul der Krake

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My employer has an unlimited sick days policy, which is worth very little to me as a young invincible, but I have seen older coworkers get out of the office regularly to schedule their kids' doctor visits.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2015, 03:05:49 PM by Paul der Krake »

boyerbt

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Not working now, but was always in a salaried position and being away for a few hours never kept people from getting their work done.

Fortunately, each manager I've had understood that and it was fine.  No official policy.  Taking a full day off might have been harder, but probably still workable.  If you are doing your work, most managers, I've found, are understanding.

Ditto at my company. My Manager is very flexible with any events or appointments that may arise. From his standpoint, get your work done - you're fine.

AvisJinx

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Employers are going to be facing this issue even more now as the number of elderly and family caretakers increases. 

When I was taking care of my mom (she had vascular dementia) my employer let me use sick time to take my mom to the doctor. They knew my situation and were really very wonderful about it.

Roots&Wings

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Yes.  Included in the 'sick leave' policy.

NoraLenderbee

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At my last company, one of my reports had a chronically ill mother whom she needed to take to many doctors' appointments. She used up her sick leave pretty quickly. We went to HR and learned that she was eligible for FMLA (family leave in the US). You can take FMLA for just one day at a time, when you need it--I had thought that you had to take it 6 weeks at a time. This meant she could take her mother as needed and save her sick days for when she was actually sick.

AustinKat

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Caring for an elderly parent falls under FMLA: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28C.pdf

I used FMLA when my mother had terminal cancer. I had to fill out forms and have her doctor sign off on it, but after that I could take time to take her to doctor's appointments and chemo.

Nothlit

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My employer doesn't distinguish between "sick" time, "personal" time, "vacation" time, etc. It's all just "paid time off" so we're free to use it however we wish.

FMLA may apply in the case of unpaid leave.

bogart

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My employer's HR manual (I just checked) specifies that we may use (paid) sick leave to care for sick (and/or the medical needs of, e.g. doctor's visits) immediate family members, which it defines as a child, parent, spouse, or same-sex partner.  Assuming the state I live in keeps same-sex marriage legal, as it has recently been required to do, I'd guess that last category may eventually be removed; until very recently, there was no such thing as a same-sex spouse here, so the distinction has been necessary.

In short:  yes.  As others have noted, FMLA is an option if needed.

Nudelkopf

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Yupp, it comes out of our sick leave, although it's titled as a 'Family Responsibility' rather than a 'sick' day.

I'm a red panda

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Our sick time is not supposed to be used for appointments (it has to be taken in 8 hour increments)- but we would be granted PTO (vacation...) time, which can be taken in 4 hour increments.

Most managers would just let you use flex time if it is 2 hours or so though, come in early or work later afterwards.

sleepyguy

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Officially off our HR handbook policy... NO.  But we both have flexible jobs and understanding managers that they would have no issue pending on how often this was happening.  My daughter has hospital visits about twice per month, and takes about 2-4hrs.  Both of use just take leave from work to go, no issues.

Villanelle

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At my last job, I'd have need to take time off.  I think they would have allowed use of sick time for that, just as they allowed parents to use sick time when they were home with sick kids. 

For a longer term situation, FMLA would have been an option as well.

And they were pretty good about letting someone come in early/stay late/otherwise flex hours in order to cover various commitments, as long as it wasn't a regular thing.  Technically because we were salaried and exempt, they weren't really allowed to do that, but no one complained because the alternative was requiring use to use sick or vacation time for everything. 

Rural

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They don't have a choice in the US (FMLA), but they don't have to pay you, either. Many will, and many will work it out informally through flex time, and both of those are better options for getting along, but they do have to allow it under the law.

retired?

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btw - for the youngins here, don't ask HR for the official policy.  Ask your manager.  If you ask for the official policy, you will get it, and if you don't like it (i.e. the flexibility does not exist), then you are in the position of you and your manager knowing the official policy, but wanting to sidestep it.

I had one new-to-the-working-world younger co-worker.  There was an unwritten policy that only a bare bones staff came to the office when the markets were closed.  He was a little uptight and wanted to see it.  He asks our manager (normally good, but an anal british guy located in London).  Mgr told younger guy to ask HR (i.e. I am wiping my hands clean).  Young guy did.  They pointed him to a website, which clearly had no mention of this policy.  Mgr then asks me as a more sr person.  Told him it was the custom in the U.S. offices.  Response (coming from a guy who gets 6 weeks off and works in an office where employees get 5 weeks on day one) "sounds like a cheeky way for the Americans to take another day off".

So, sometimes asking the manager can be the wrong route as well.  Follow the local custom.

PEIslander

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My employer gives us 'Flex Time' with yearly allotment of hours that can be used a sick days, health-related appointments, or just to stay home & have a "me" day. No questions asked - we can use them however we want (or need to). Typically if we needed to take a parent or child to a appointment we'd log the time to that flex time.

It sounded like a great benefit when our employer first announced it. Our problem is we only get five days worth a year. Most of us use all those days just being sick + appointments. Five days sure doesn't go very far if you have children who you have to stay home with when they are ill or have "storm days" where schools & daycares are cancelled ---- plus the employee's own illnesses. Many employee end up using their vacation hours, or banked overtime, to supplement their flex time. If we don't use all our flex time, or our vacation time, it is paid out at the end of the year. We are not unionised so there is no opportunity to negotiate more time.

If we get sick (or injured) our HR people really want us to go to a doctor asap. The reason is we have employer-paid disability insurance that will kick in fairly quickly if we are unable to work. If a doctor advises us to not work, the insurance would pay us a reduced salary and our employer would not have to pay us until we get back to work.

gimp

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My boss doesn't care as long as the work is done. I can't imagine dealing with official ... well, anything, to take off a few hours and move them somewhere else.

southern granny

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yes, our sick time can be used for immediate family members...  includes wife, husband, children, parents.

Apples

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My employer doesn't distinguish between "sick" time, "personal" time, "vacation" time, etc. It's all just "paid time off" so we're free to use it however we wish.

FMLA may apply in the case of unpaid leave.

+1 Our employer does the same.  And you can choose to take unpaid leave for any reason.  We have hourly workers, so if they take off we just ask if they want any vacation time on their paycheck or not.  It makes everything easy.

DecD

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I just get PTO- I can use it for what I want.  That said, it's not a generous policy at all.  So if I am home sick a day, it essentially means one precious vacation day down the drain. 

I hate our vacation policy.  I want double what I get. :)

MustacheExplorer

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As a federal employee I can use up to 80 hours of my accumulated sick leave to deal with family medical issues.  It is called family sick leave.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2015, 11:15:03 AM by MustacheExplorer »

mm1970

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I just get PTO- I can use it for what I want.  That said, it's not a generous policy at all.  So if I am home sick a day, it essentially means one precious vacation day down the drain. 

I hate our vacation policy.  I want double what I get. :)
This is our policy too.  When we switched to it, they touted how "awesome it is to have this flexibility!"

We went from unlimited sick to essentially 5 sick days lumped into vacation and holiday in PTO.

It's not a benefit.

However, it does make me angry that people consider PTO "vacation" and thus never set aside sick time.

Ready2Go

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I have been at big company for ~15 years and have never explained details of what my sick time was for, and never been asked.  We can take sick leave in 1 hour increments, and I just do so as needed for me or my kids.  If a parent were in the mix I would do the same.   

Pigeon

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Yes, we can use some of our sick leave for family, with family defined as spouse, child or parent.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!