Many adult children routinely care for or help care for ill and aging parents. With the number of individuals age 65 and older expected to nearly double by 2030 to an estimated 70 million, more and more adult children will take over the responsibility of caring for an aging parent. This has many concerned about possible workplace and elder care discrimination.
Discrimination by employers against adult caregivers is a growing concern for many employees and elder advocates. In one instance, an employee was fired for taking a leave of absence to care for a dying parent. Another woman was chastised by her employer and denied leave when she requested time off to care for her sick mother.
While some laws and protections currently exist for workers who must care for an elderly parent, many employees do not meet requirements to qualify. An employee is only eligible to file a claim under the Family Medical Leave Act if they and their employer meet certain requirements.
To qualify for FMLA, the employee must have worked at the company for at least one year and the employer must have at least 50 employees. These requirements automatically disqualify many elder care providers who work at small businesses.
The growing number of individuals age 65 and older coupled with an increase in the number of women that work outside the home, has made elder care a major issue for many employers. The number of discrimination cases related to elder care has grown considerably in recent years. In one case, a jury awarded a health care worker $11.65 million dollars after he was fired for taking time to care for his parents who were both suffering debilitating diseases.
Growing concern over matters related to elder care and employees' need to take leaves of absence have lead the state of California to explore legislation protecting workers' rights. As more and more Americans pass into their golden years, other states will also be forced to examine laws governing employee rights with regard to elder care.
Source: Forbes, "Sex Discrimination, Age Discrimination, Family Responsibilities Discrimination?," Ashlea Ebeling, Sept. 10, 2012
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