I have DPOA of my sister who has dementia. I have to leave work early on days during emergencies. What are my options for FMLA?

I've had FMLA for my mother before. I got the paperwork from my HR department and had her doctor fill it out. You can have them fill it out so that it covers intermittent things that can come up throughout the year and use your sick time to cover the hours missed.

It will become harder & harder to hold a job when you are 'on call' for caregiving.

I asked to leave my job once for an emergency. Once was enough. I was so stressed! I was asked to speak to the Boss on my return, & told to find other solutions.

When appointments stack up, more emergenies or supervision is needed during your workday, it's time to arrange a bigger care team. Hiring a sitter or aide, or using a daycare service.

Even if you take leave or retire, you are still one person. The needs will become more than one can do alone.

Start planning a little longer. Past your family leave & into the next stage. Start researching what help & services are available in your area. What diagnosis, assessment etc do you need to apply.

My experience was that FMLA does not cover siblings.

Alisha1: Please check with your human resources department.

This is a question to ask HR department of your employer for both if it as an employer is big enough to be under federal requirements for FMLA & what your employment status is (so that your employee status is covered). FMLA was expanded to siblings if you can show you act as their parent but that seems to be something that HR isn’t used to dealing with. If you run into this, Google sibling leadership network for info on ideas on how to deal with it.

if it’s a smaller employer, federal FMLA regulations, are not required.

Please place this sentence in your search window, "What is the minimum time increment for taking intermittent FMLA leave?"

Welcome to the Forum to yet another new member; so glad you are here.

FMLA should be checked with your own company in/for your own state. There are federal rules, but some companies have policies that enhance those guidelines, and they often depend upon size of the company. Do check with your human resources team, and the best of luck. Ultimately, of course, this will be impossible to handle without a full time team caring for your sister. Whether that means in home help for her or placement, no job will be good enough to pay you for not working over a period of time, and leaving your job shouldn't be an option. Things will get worse if this is happening now already.
I sure wish you the best, hope you will update us, and again--welcome to the Forum.

You will get paid they can use ur sick and vacation. If u run out of both then u will not get paid.

It’s intermittent Fmla. H can speak with her Primary care physician and he:she will complete the forms and you will get the forms from Fmla. This a life saver.

Go talk to the HR person at your company since the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) only covers employees of companies of a certain size. Many smaller employers will choose to follow its rules but they are not required to do so. Your best place for info is Human Resources at your company. IF your company is covered under FMLA then yes, your need to assist your sister is a legitimate request under the rules. This is a quick explanation of FMLA https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla

I am sure you can but...you will not get paid for the time you take off. It just means they can't use you leaving work alot against you. And I think if there is less than a certain number of employees, your employer does not have to comply. I would call your Labor Board for a clear definition. Don't rely on HR to know all the rules and regulations.

I was involved in a lawsuit against a company for violating the disabilities act. EEOC took on the case because they found the Companies HR was in violation. Some companies do not hire qualified people in their HR departments. My grandson won not much but enough to cover the unemployment he never received, pay us back and a nice down payment on a car.

Check with HR. There is a way you can take time off as needed. I forgot what that's called and didn't want to use it as a professor, which would have upset schedules with substitutes. You'll have to have your mom's doctor sign some papers and give the reasons for time off. Good luck.

From my own experience with FMLA: yes you should be able to use FMLA in as little as one hour increments as needed BUT depending on your employer they may push back. When my manager changed the new manager with the backing of HR tried to tell me I had to take a whole day at a time. I got an attorney to write HR a letter quoting the wording of the act and referencing a few court opinions where companies had lost this battle.

Hopefully your manager isn't a controlling micromanager like mine was.

I think you need to read your employment contract and/or pay HR a visit.

One of the MAIN reasons my mom needed to reside in a facility was that my brothers all needed to work; when mom lived alone, she had increasingly frequent "emergencies" that were manifestations of anxiety. Leaving work to attend her was not sustainable for any of us!

Once mom was in a NH with trained personnel, they understood when to call us for genuine medical emergencies.

With medical appointments, I used personal time and generally tried to schedule them of days off.