pregnant minor daughter fmla

[gabe75007]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX


Hi all,

and thanks in advance for any advice....

My life is a wreck this year and i am needing to know if i do not qualify for fmla and get fired if i take off, am i able to collect unemployment??

My employer is not speaking to me...they did this to the lady prior to me...the owners wife doesnt like someone....they fire them....yada yada

anyways my teen daughter is pregnant and she really wants me at the child birth and i really want to be there...we are extremely close to the 50 employee requirement, i have been there for 8 years.....if i request fmla, and i am denied will i be able to collect unemployment for this birth, i will be taking care of the financial responsibility and i am sure the physical responsibility until my daughter graduates high school??

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Thanks!!!

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX


Hi all,

and thanks in advance for any advice....

My life is a wreck this year and i am needing to know if i do not qualify for fmla and get fired if i take off, am i able to collect unemployment??

My employer is not speaking to me...they did this to the lady prior to me...the owners wife doesnt like someone....they fire them....yada yada

anyways my teen daughter is pregnant and she really wants me at the child birth and i really want to be there...we are extremely close to the 50 employee requirement, i have been there for 8 years.....if i request fmla, and i am denied will i be able to collect unemployment for this birth, i will be taking care of the financial responsibility and i am sure the physical responsibility until my daughter graduates high school??

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Thanks!!!

What do you mean by "extremely close" to the 50 employee requirement?

If there are 49 employees, you won't qualify for FMLA. Besides, your child's pregnancy generally won't qualify in and of itself.

No, you can't collect unemployment.

And as soon as the child is born, your daughter needs to file for child support from the father.

 

[swalsh411]

I disagree about the unemployment outlook.

If you are fired because of a single absense due to a family committment (birth of the child) and you have taken reasonable steps to notify your employer that you cannot work that day then I do not think that will be considered misconduct.

 

[ecmst12]

You must be willing, able, and actively seeking work to collect unemployment. So during any time that you are choosing to be home to help your daughter recover, you won't be able to collect.

I don't see how shielding your child from the consequences of her actions is going to help her make better choices in the future.

 

[commentator]

Unemployment insurance is for people who are out of work through no fault of their own, and actively seeking other work. It is not at all related to your income or whether or not you would continue to need your work income.

If you are fired because you insist on taking off the time to be with your daughter during her childbirth, it may be construed as absenteeism, a viloation of the company attendance policy.

Since you are not physically ill yourself, and you know what your company's attendance policies are, and you are able to make the choice to be there or not be there at work, then if you don't come to work, you can certainly be fired.

How much time were you asking for, and how do you know the birth won't occur during a time when you were not working? Is there not a sick leave policy that would give you a day or so to be off and be with her during labor and delivery, or are you asking for six weeks to attend to and deal with the whole process? That is not a reasonable request for your employer to have to accomodate. They are well within their rights to fire you if you demand this time with no FMLA. Close doesn't count. It's like pregnancy. Your employers are or are not required to provide FMLA. As someone pointed out, FMLA wouldn't even be of help if your company had to give it, as taking off for your daughter's delivery and postpartum convenience is probably not a medical necessity for you.

In the first place, the unemployment insurance system is going to see if you have a monetary claim, enough wages in place to draw benefits. After 8 years on the job, this will probably be the case. Then they consider why you left the job or are no longer working. Out of work "through no fault of your own" is the major criterion.

Fired for absenteeism in violation of company attendance policies, or because you demanded a leave of absence is usually considered a misconduct reason, which means no unemployment insurance. Your family's income situation or monitary need is not a factor. Availability for work is also considered, and if you tell the unemployment system you are having to be off work and not able to take another job immediately because you want to be around for your daughter, you would not be able to qualify for that reason, even if you had an approved claim otherwise.

If teen daughter manages to get her mother fired from her job, then both your lives are going to be much worse. Don't let this happen if you can possibly avoid it. If they were to fire you for another reason, if they just up and decide to fire you because they don't like you or because they want to, as you say they have done for others, then you very likely might qualify for unemployment insurance.

Do not under any circumstances quit the job if you need unemployment benefits. Hold on, show up, do the best you can, pay no attention to derogatory comments or bosses wives who do not speak to you. If they fire you, it was not your decision, it was theirs, and to keep you from receiving benefits, they must show that they had an appropriate misconduct reason. If they cannot do that, then you have a much better chance of getting unemployment insurance. But if you quit, or go in and resign, or ask for a leave of absence to care for your daughter or something similar, then you are not going to be able to qualify for it.

 

[cbg]

With regards to FMLA, the eligibilty requirements are set by law, not by company policy. If all the requirements are met, FMLA is not an option. It doesn't matter how close you are. If there are not 50 employees within 75 miles of your location, then you do not qualify. Period. Even if there are 49.

 

[LdiJ]

I do not disagree with what anyone has said. However, most employers are pretty nice about letting their employees miss work to be present at the birth of a grandchild. Particularly employees that they value.

If your employer is not speaking to you, then it sounds like you are already on your way out the door. Perhaps you need to correct whatever caused your employer to stop speaking to you.

 

[commentator]

I get the feeling that perhaps merely a day or two off for the birth is not what this poster is looking for. Perhaps a six week maternity leave (or grandmother's leave) or something. But even with FMLA, that wouldn't be an option anyway.

I agree, most companies do have some sort of leave policy and would not consider it excessive to give a person a day or two off for the birth of a grandchild, but it appears there are other issues at play here. Even as one does not get special consideration in the work world because "I'm a single mother" one does not get it because of issues caused by a teenage daughter's unplanned pregnancy either. It would be unreasonable to ask employers to accomodate too many personal problems of this type and still maintain a successful business.

 

[Beth3]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX


Hi all,

and thanks in advance for any advice....

My life is a wreck this year and i am needing to know if i do not qualify for fmla and get fired if i take off, am i able to collect unemployment??

My employer is not speaking to me...they did this to the lady prior to me...the owners wife doesnt like someone....they fire them....yada yada

anyways my teen daughter is pregnant and she really wants me at the child birth and i really want to be there...we are extremely close to the 50 employee requirement, i have been there for 8 years.....if i request fmla, and i am denied will i be able to collect unemployment for this birth, i will be taking care of the financial responsibility and i am sure the physical responsibility until my daughter graduates high school??

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Thanks!!!

If your employer doesn't have enough employees to be subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, the no employee is eligible for FMLA and the employer doesn't have to grant it. (Even if the company was subject to the FMLA, taking leave to care for your newborn grandchild is not covered.)

If your employer voluntarily allows you to take leave time, you will not be eligible for unemployment benefits. Your employer has work available for you - you are chosing not to work.

 

[Zigner]

(Even if the company was subject to the FMLA, taking leave to care for your newborn grandchild is not covered.)

Just for clarification...

What if the employee is caring for their minor daughter (ie: due to complications, or even normal recovery) related to child-birth?

 

[Hot Topic]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX


Hi all,

and thanks in advance for any advice....

My life is a wreck this year and i am needing to know if i do not qualify for fmla and get fired if i take off, am i able to collect unemployment??

My employer is not speaking to me...they did this to the lady prior to me...the owners wife doesnt like someone....they fire them....yada yada

anyways my teen daughter is pregnant and she really wants me at the child birth and i really want to be there...we are extremely close to the 50 employee requirement, i have been there for 8 years.....if i request fmla, and i am denied will i be able to collect unemployment for this birth, i will be taking care of the financial responsibility and i am sure the physical responsibility until my daughter graduates high school??

Any advice would be appreciated.....

Thanks!!!

Those of us who collect unemployment while we make a good faith effort to find work don't particularly want to hear from people who think it's a good way to solve a matter of inconvenience. In other words, you want to be at your grandchild's birth, and collecting unemployment will be a nifty way to do it should your employer say you can't take the time off and terminate you.

You then will happily collect unemployment and take care of your daughter, even though collecting unemployment requires you to look for work seven days a week. At least that's the way it's done in my state. Some of my unemployment benefits were withheld in June because I had to be hospitalized and couldn't job hunt.

Good luck with your grandchild. Since you seem so proud, I would guess that you could be looking forward to taking care of more in the future.

 

[Beth3]

Just for clarification...

What if the employee is caring for their minor daughter (ie: due to complications, or even normal recovery) related to child-birth?

If mom were needed to provide "medically necessary" care, then it would qualify for FMLA. But it's a moot point since the OP's employer isn't subject to the Act.

 

[Zigner]

If mom were needed to provide "medically necessary" care, then it would qualify for FMLA.

Thanks.

But it's a moot point since the OP's employer isn't subject to the Act.

Agreed.

 

[commentator]

Hi there, H.T., hope you're feeling better and things are going okay for you. I think most people who have never drawn unemployment benefits, never had experience with this sort of situation and the public in general seems to believe that there is a federal program out there where if you can't work for health reasons or due to family and personal situations, you will be provided for by the system. And most assume that is unemployment benefits. After all, you're not working, right?

While there is disability insurance in some states, most of the time if you don't have "that duck stuff" or some other kind of private disability insurance, if you are injured or have a family emergency, there's nothing for you at all.

I have spent so much of my worklife explaining this unpleasant fact to people sitting before me with casts, doctor's statements, in wheelchairs, people who had lost their transportation or had a babysitter quit on them.

I was once assaulted on the job by a man who hit me with his crutch when I broke the news to him that he could not draw unemployment insurance because he was unable to work. I've explained to people who were literally sitting at the bedside of dying child that they couldn't receive benefits until (gulp!) they were able and available to do a work search and seek employment again.

It's quite reasonable for people to check it out before they jump out and make stupid mistakes based on their assumptions, though. I don't fault someone for doing that by any means. Reality orientation is a long process, usually lifelong.

 

[Hot Topic]

Thanks for the good wishes, commentator. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to afford to have surgery done on my kidney stone. The hospital was informed that I had no insurance, but went ahead and recommended a urologist whose receptionist said he charged "thousands." Another receptionist transferred me to the billing department to get a quote. The billing department said the receptionist knew better than to do that. The receptionist, of course, fired back that the billing department just didn't like to give out quotes. I love an office where people work together.

I've seen signs that the local EDD office doesn't understand unemployment. I was at a workshop that was going well until the instructor cavalierly announced that we were lucky to be in that city because of the low unemployment rate! Tell that to the packed job fairs and to the employers who have to tell applicants not to apply unless they have all the qualifications listed. Tell that to the employer who was in shock because the company received 200 resumes for one position.

There's talk about abolishing California's Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. A Californian wondered in his column if Californians really needed panels drawing six-figure incomes to settle disputes over who's owed unemployment insurance or worker's compensation. Wouldn't it wouldn't be better to leave it up to people experienced in the field rather than unemployed politicians?

Rant over .