Our laws are wrong on this

[tay]

Mother fired while caring for son with cancer says Alberta rules must change

Amanda Jensen will never forget the day she learned her six-year-old son Jake had leukemia — a heartbreaking moment made worse by the chain of events that followed that left her without a job.

Now she's pushing for the Alberta government to do more to protect workers' rights for parents who care for critically ill children.
"Picking him up from school that day, I couldn't look at him without feelings of terror that filled my heart, and fear for the future," Jensen said from her home in Lethbridge.

She had little time to process the diagnosis on Oct. 5, 2016, before Jake was rushed to Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary the next day for urgent treatment.

That was the same day she first contacted her employer, the Lethbridge Lodging Association, to notify them she would be spending an extended period of time in Calgary for her son's treatment.

On Oct. 19, the employer issued a record of employment for Jensen, listing compassionate care leave as the reason for her departure. Jensen said between this and her conversations and correspondence with her manager she understood that her request for a 35-week leave of absence had been granted.

A month later, however, the Lethbridge Lodging Association terminated her unpaid leave and employment.

Mother fired while caring for son with cancer says Alberta rules must change - Calgary - CBC News

 

[TenPenny]

Here's the question: for how long should an employer be required to hold your job while you care for family members?

 

[taxslave]

A 35 week leave is not fair to the employer or the replacement worker.

 

[captain morgan]

Here's the question: for how long should an employer be required to hold your job while you care for family members?

What 'conditions' qualify for this kind of considerations.

Compassionate Care can cover a very wide range of circumstances

 

[TenPenny]

Exactly, it's not a simple question. And while you're off for a year, who pays for your health plan, assuming your workplace offers it?

 

[MHz]

There is employment insurance that would have and when it was time to re-enter the workforce resumes are the way that process works unless you have an inside track. Old employers will fire somebody to get a top-notch worker back. Alberta Services should be the ones taking care of the child's expenses. Those are the paths she should be looking at as there is no guarantee that she would have been able to come back. As it is she got a month, that is 4 weeks more than other companies would have given her.

How did this serious of a health issue not get detected earlier? Alberta Health seems have a habit of not treating some cases until it is too late to be of any long-term use. How is the kid doing?

 

[Serryah]

So here's a single mom with four kids, dealing with divorce, plus a harassment suit (did not go through, she's appealing) and now has a cancer situation and loses her job after only 8 months.

"Compassionate Care" doesn't exactly seem that compassionate when in this situation.

Considering all of this, what should she have done? "Sorry, son, I know you have Cancer but I have to work and your mental health doesn't matter so you don't need me being here with you". Kids want/need their parents, moms especially, during this kind'a stuff.

 

[MHz]

Dumb question but perhaps if she had been home instead of working she would have spotted the small changes. Be interesting to see if she was part of the reason for a divorce and where is dad in this picture??