Human Resource Blog

Adult Daughter and FMLA

	Attendance Management
Vacation Request / Response Form Weekly Time Sheets Attendance Calendar for 2008, 2009, or 2010 Annual Attendance Tracker Vacation Request Form for 2008, 2009, 2010 (Calendar) Detailed Absence Report

	HR Management
Confidential Employee Folder Confidential Employee Medical Folder Job File Worksheet Folder Daily EEO Applicant Flow Log Workplace Information Sheets Request to Inspect Personnel Files

An employee has a 24 year old daughter with stage 111A Hodgkin’s lymphoma who lives with the employee. The daughter also has a 3 year old child, who lives with them. Bi-monthly the grandmother takes the daughter to her chemo treatments, also on these particular days the daughter is so wiped out from the treatment that the employee makes sure her meals are properly prepared, her resting area is clean and comfortable, and she provides psychological help and also takes care of the granddaughter. The employee submitted the Dr’s certicate and recently sent in a progress note stating the daughter’s needs and this is a chronic serious condition requiring treatment continuing approximately 6 months with further monitoring for relapse and improvement in side effects.
The FMLA coordinator stills rejects the employee’s request for FMLA leave.
Does this employee qualify?
Thank you for your reply

It’s hard for us to comment on the employees eligibility without knowing every detail, including how much time she has already taken off. But we can identify some items that might be problematic. Many FMLA coordinators are unaware that in some cases, a parent may qualify for FMLA leave to care for a child over the age of 18. Basically, the child needs to be disabled (unable to care for herself, at least for a period of time) in order for it to be FMLA. However, FMLA does not permit leave by a parent to provide psychological help to an adult child. Nor does it permit leave by a grandparent to care for a young grandchild, when the parent is incapacitated. Also, the daughter must be physically unable to do these things for herself, rather than it just being more convenient for the employee to do them for her. We would suggest that the employee revise her FMLA request. If it is still denied, then contact the US Department of Labor for a final determination. And thanks for posting an excellent question!