Army Family resources - Army Times

Families of wounded ask Congress for more leave

An Army wife’s story of losing her job for taking time off to care for her combat-wounded husband is helping to persuade lawmakers to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act so that it gives more protection to military families.

But while Sarah Wade talked of the difficulties of caring for her husband, Army Sgt. Edward Wade, the National Coalition to Protect Family Leave warned that easing the rules on unscheduled time off for families of wounded troops could undermine the leave program, making it impossible for employers to schedule workers and workloads.

The Society for Human Resource Management has voiced similar concerns, saying calls to provide six months off for a spouse or parent to care for an injured service member would be difficult for businesses to accommodate and could create animosity among employees who want additional time off for other family emergencies.

“We have an obligation to provide all employees and employers with clear, predictable and practical leave requirements that correct, rather than exacerbate, current frustrations,” said Christine Vion-Gillespie of the Alexandria, Va.-based professional association of human resource managers.

Some of the coalition’s proposed standards, such as requiring a minimum amount of time on the job before qualifying for any family leave and imposing limits on the reasons leave could be taken, could make any change in law less helpful, military advocates said.

Jessica Perdew of the National Military Family Association, testifying beside Wade at a Sept. 18 hearing of the House Education and Labor workforce protections subcommittee, said requiring a spouse to have one year on a job before qualifying for family leave rights would hurt military spouses.

“For a spouse who moves every two or three years, accruing 12 months of tenure . . . may be a challenge,” she said.

She said current law is entirely inadequate for families of severely injured service members.

Wade’s husband was injured by a roadside bomb in 2004 in Iraq. His right arm was severed and he suffered a fractured leg, broken foot, shrapnel wounds and complications from anemia, hyperglycemia and infections. He also sustained severe traumatic brain injuries.

Sarah Wade said she initially held on to her restaurant job in Chapel Hill, N.C., while making a 320-mile trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to be with him three days a week. She continued to work “so I would not lose our house or my job,” but she said she had to withdraw from college.

About 15 months after her husband was injured, Wade said, she was fired because, her employer told her, she “had a lot going on” in her life.

The firing came as a shock.

“I asked them to tell me if this was a problem and to warn me, if they could, about being fired,” she said. “They said they were looking for someone more flexible, but they never tried to work with me, and never asked if I could be flexible.”

Congress is considering several plans to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act, an effort that is getting an extra push from the fact that three presidential candidates support the idea: Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. A Dodd-sponsored bill passed the Senate earlier this year and is pending before the workforce protection subcommittee.

Current law allows up to 12 weeks per year of unpaid time off for various situations, including caring for a seriously ill family member. Pending legislation would allow up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave for military families and expand eligibility to employees of small businesses, and to extended family members, such as siblings, who cannot use the law today.

The National Guard Association of the United States announced Monday that it is backing the Senate legislation to allow up to six months of unpaid leave for the families of wounded combat veterans. Stephen Koper, the association’s president, said 12 weeks are not enough given the severity of some wounds.

Giving 26 weeks “would provide the caring family member with the assurance that he or she will not be terminated from re-employment during that extended period of care should it be needed,” Koper said in a statement.