Since 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has protected employees who need to take time off from work to care for themselves or others. The federal law requires employers to provide workers up to 12 weeks off for medical leave, for the birth of a child or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, or to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition. The law also covers a spouse, child or parent who takes leave to care for a military member with a serious injury or illness or to make certain arrangements (such as for child care) while a service member is deployed. Your employer isn’t required to pay you for the time off, but the law protects your job, and your employer must continue to provide your benefits, such as health insurance.
Michelle Paggi, a gerontologist and licensed psychologist in New York City, remembers how helpful the FMLA was for her mother when her grandmother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Paggi’s mom, a health unit coordinator at a hospital, needed to take time off to care for Paggi’s grandmother and feared losing her job. “It was very aggressive cancer, and my grandmother had a lot of appointments. She needed my mom there as her primary caregiver,” says Paggi. “My mom was only in her fifties, so she needed the health insurance and was in no position to quit her job.”
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