Friday, October 21, 2011

Parental Bereavement Act..

CHILD: The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. A human being below the age of 18 years.

ADULT: is a legal concept for a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible.

When you have a baby or adopt a baby an employee can be given 12 weeks of FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act). If that child develops a major illness you can also choice to take FMLA. If your adult family member has a major illness you can once again go on FMLA. But when your child dies, your employer only has to give you 3-5 days of leave. This is barely enough time to hold the funeral let alone begin to grieve for the loss.

The Family Medical Leave Act was pushed by a real life father who was fired from his job after taking time off to help his 16 years old daughter battle cancer. This father fought back and with the help of Senators, he lobbies the United States Congress and is the stimulus to passage of the Family Medical Leave Act. The daughter dies shortly after this bill was signed by President Clinton into law in 1993.

Why do I mention all this because many of you may not know but the death of a child is not a reason for FMLA. Your employer does not have to give you 12 weeks off and secure you position when you return. Currently the Parental Bereavement Act (S. 1358) is being introduced into Congress. It currently has no co-sponsor. In a press release, Sen. Tester said he introduced the bill because the "last thing [parents] should be worrying about is whether they’ll lose their jobs as they deal with life-changing loss. People are surprised when we tell them that it doesn't cover the death of a child," Tester said. "Anytime a parent has to bury a child is, in my opinion, the most stressful and excruciating experience a family can go through. People need time to grieve and sort out what has happened without having to worry about losing their jobs."

Although the FMLA allows employees to take time off for mental-health problems, grieving parents are reluctant to use that provision because they don't want the stigma of saying they have a mental illness such as depression, doctors and mental-health experts say. Parents worry that using the mental-health provision could lead future employers or insurance companies to discriminate against them by wrongly concluding that they have a chronic mental illness.

"Of course, someone who has just lost their child feels sad and depressed and has trouble focusing," said Dr. Tressia Shaw, a palliative-care physician at Phoenix Children's Hospital. "It's not accurate to label that parent with a diagnosis of depression when what they're going through is a normal process of grief. A separate provision in the law for grieving parents would solve the problem."


I am asking everyone to take a few minutes and go to the link below and sign petition to the president and congress to approve this new act. Enter your information and the letters will be sent to your congressmen in your state. I also am asking that in the comments box if you would add that the age be upped from 18 to 25. Congress recently passed that students can be on our insurance till age 25. Many of these “children” still live at home and have no means to support themselves as they are students in college. If Bill had wanted to take FMLA he would have been denied because Heather was 21. But she was still living at home, had no means to support herself since she had been fighting cancer for a year and we still claimed her on our taxes.


Please, the last thing a grieving parent needs to worry about is their job. Just getting up and out of bed each day takes all the strength we have. Take just a few minutes and send petitions to get this act passed. It is all filled out you just have to give your name and address and click send.

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