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Debra Whitman was traveling for work when her father was suddenly admitted to the hospital in serious pain.
She jetted home to Maryland and took several days off to care for him in his rural community in eastern Washington state and to set him up with a motorized lift chair that would help him stand up.
Fortunately for Whitman, who serves as chief public policy officer at AARP, her employer offers paid time off for caregiving for elderly family members, a benefit which experts say is growing in popularity as the U.S. population ages.
“Instead of having to take all my vacation, I could take several days of caregiving leave while I was out there,” Whitman says. “That’s been a huge godsend for a lot of my staff.”
More than 63 million Americans provide care for an adult family member, and most of them have regular paid jobs as well, according to AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons. But caretaking responsibilities can make holding down a full-time job challenging, especially for people caring for older adults and raising children at the same time.
The average caregiver spends about six hours a day caring for aging loved ones, according to Meghan Shea, vice president at New York Life Group Benefit Solutions, which provides life insurance and helps administer leaves of absence for employers.
“The challenge is that leave isn’t unlimited,” Shea says. “The average caregiving role spans about six years. So really, it’s a life change for these employees, and they need to figure out how to balance responsibilities in a new way, and that’s very stressful.”
In the U.S., the Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year to care for immediate family members. The law requires federal, state and local agencies, and private employers with 50 or more workers, to maintain health benefits and job protections for those taking leave, according to the Department of Labor.
In addition to the law not applying to all workplaces, it does not account for people who can’t afford to take unpaid leave.
More than a dozen states mandate some form of paid leave for caregiving, whether for a newborn child or a family member with a serious illness. The state laws generally entitle workers to a portion of their normal paychecks, although for how long and other benefit details vary.
“Many people have to quit their jobs in order to care for somebody, and that not only affects their income but their retirement benefits, and then there’s a loss of productivity for the employer who may have lost a great person,” Whitman says. “Finding ways to support family caregivers is a huge employment issue right now.”
To meet growing demand, some companies and organizations have started offering a variety of caregiving benefits, including flexible scheduling and help finding resources.
The Associated Press has the full story.
