#fmla

[awingedinsect]

~Flood Me Like Atlantic~

Moving in with my girlfriend means I get iPad privileges, and I’ve been having a fabulous time playing around on procreate. If anyone has any tips please share!!😈

Timelapse:

[mysharona1987]

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[pepperandthevassalkings]

https://gofund.me/23037069

Hi everyone,

My name is Dax Bradley (he/it), and I’m a queer disabled person asking for help to ensure I can stay housed and fed. I am currently on FMLA and in outpatient mental health treatment, but my short-term disability hasn’t kicked in yet. With rent at $1550 a month and therapy costs of $268 per week, I’m struggling to make ends meet. On top of that, student loans are starting up again this month, adding more pressure to my already tight budget.

I also need to address my transportation situation. Walking exacerbates the nerve damage in my ankles, making it difficult for me to get around. I’m hoping to find a solution that allows me to get the care I need without further hurting myself. Additionally, I will need to pay for orthopedics and ankle braces.

Unfortunately, I’m mostly out of contact with my family, except for my dad, who is currently in the hospital undergoing cancer treatment. It’s a tough time for both of us, and I want to do my best to support him while also taking care of myself.

If you can contribute, even a small amount, it would mean the world to me. Your support will help me maintain my housing and continue my therapy while I navigate this difficult period.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your kindness and generosity. For each non-anonymous donation, I'd love to draw you a dragon as a personal thank you.

With love,

Dax

[yellow-dress-basil]

I have officially taken the next two days (before holiday break) off of work. I’m looking into FMLA and doing an intake for a PHP today.

It was so scary to put in for the days, email my administrators, text my classroom coworker, and tell my mom (we work together).

But yesterday I had 4 meltdowns. Full ones. 4. Because I couldn’t handle it all anymore.

My car has been towed for a third time this month and I’m out of money to fix it (already dropped 2k) but the engine stalled out. I’m very fortunate that my parents will be able to help me but that wasn’t a guarantee until my mom offered this morning.

I finished a really tough semester and worked full time during it.

My chronic pain and chronic illness symptoms have been way worse in the last few months. Just progressively worse.

I have no money, no savings, and no ability left over to go to work. So I’m not going.

In the past I would have just quit. But I have documented disabilities on my side now so I’m not going to quit a career I love because I’m having a tough time.

This morning I woke up feeling like I had actually rested for the first time in over a month. I still didn’t get 8 hours (its been so long since I have, like months and months) but I felt like the sleep I did get actually counted for once.

I felt relieved that I wasn’t pushing myself beyond my capabilities anymore.

And I’m so proud of myself for taking the step. And so grateful to my wife, my parents, my meta, and my beat friends who helped me through yesterday and setting everything up.

It’s gonna be okay.

[nalathedgehog]

Let's see how high the fire can burn.

I'm awfully curious...

Aren't you?

So here's where we're at.

Today, I was informed by my manager (who has no power to change this situation. She is the messenger and I love her dearly)

THAT!!! I will not be qualifying for FMLA this next year of 2025.

Which was an absolute gut wrench to hear. As I have needed to have a doctor's appointment nearly once a week or more due to my condition.

After the Initial shock wore off... I started to do some math.

Now.

To qualify for FMLA protection you must work 1250 hours within a 12 month period.

With this you are given 12 weeks or 480 hours of completely protected job leave to deal with whatever you need to handle.

THIS IS FEDERAL. THIS APPLIES IN ALL FIFTY STATES. THERE IS NO STATE THAT YOU CAN NOT QUALIFY FOR FMLA!!!!!

But... now let's do some math~

If you work full time. 40 hour work weeks at 8 hours a day... for a 12 month period, or 52 weeks.

And hypothetically you do not miss a single day.

You will have a total hour collection of 2,080 hours within that period!

And with the previously collected knowledge of FMLA time given. Even if you used all 480 hours of FMLA time... you will still have worked 1600 hours!!!

More than enough to cover FMLA privileges for the next year. Exactly 350 hours cusion in fact!

Now....

Onto why I was denied.

Currently where I work. There is a "Budget Inforced" Time Cap on Permanent Intermediate (PI) workers. At 4 hours a day equally to 20 hour work weeks....

Now I have used at least 200 hours of FMLA time over the course of 2024...

Which screams to the fact of the state of my condition. But I digress..

If you have been paying attention.. this is a math game~

So at 20 hour work weeks.

The MAX amount of time you could work in a 12 month period

WITH PERFECT ATTENDANCE!!!

Is only

🌟1,040🌟

.

This is not a choice. You do not get to choose how many hours you get to work. It is inforced by the Far higher ups to make this cap.

There was never a chance I would have qualified.

They did that on purpose.....

And no one has noticed yet......

However I have.

And we have a Union.

My dears....

I may not make it to next Christmas due to my declining health.

BUT LIKE FUCKING HELL AM I GOING TO GO QUIETLY!!!!!!!

If I'm going down.

I'M GOING DOWN WITH A NUKE SO I CAN WATCH THE FLAMES GET HIGHER!!!!!!!!

This is going to be war.... because this is no fault of any individual who is about to loose their right to federally protected leave.

This is at the hands of those who are making sure that we do not have the benefits we deserve.

Before the new year comes. Check and make sure you qualify for your benefits.

Or burn everything to the ground and roast marshmallows on the flames of their destruction.

We are worth the fight.

They do not deserve our surrender.

Raise Hell.

Make sure they pray to a God that has abandoned them.

Eat the Rich.

Slaughter those who think they can laugh at our pain.

[awingedinsect]

You belong to me.

Flood Me Like Atlantic, chapter 21. Poor Vessel is going through the horrors, as always :(

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Red States Could Finally Get This Popular Liberal Policy

Voters in Nebraska, Missouri and Alaska will decide if their states become the next to guarantee workers paid sick time.

Dave Jamieson at HuffPost:

A growing number of liberal states have passed paid sick leave laws in recent years, assuring workers get paid time off to care for themselves or their loved ones when they’re ill. Now some conservative states might be getting in on the act, too. Campaigns in Nebraska, Missouri and Alaska have secured enough signatures to put sick leave measures on their ballots this November. If voters approve them, the laws would let workers start accruing one hour of paid sick time for every 30 they work, capped at 56 hours per year at large employers and 40 at small ones.

More than a dozen states have similar mandates on their books, according to A Better Balance, a nonprofit advocate for fair and supportive workplaces. But none of those states are as red as Nebraska, Missouri or Alaska, all of which former President Donald Trump won handily in 2016 and 2020. If the ballot measures succeed, it would demonstrate just how popular paid sick days are among the general public. “What we’ve realized in talking to thousands of Nebraskans is that this is a really commonsense issue,” said Jo Giles, director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, one of the advocacy groups backing the initiative in Nebraska. “Most people have been sick at some point in their working lives and have needed to take time off.” Giles said the typical voter sympathizes with someone who has to choose between a day’s pay and taking care of a child who’s home sick from school. The campaign, called Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans, includes small-business owners who haven’t balked at the idea of a new mandate, she added.

The U.S. is an outlier among wealthy countries in not guaranteeing workers sick leave or other paid time off. The lack of a federal mandate means employers don’t have to offer any paid time off unless there is a state or local ordinance dictating otherwise. (The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 guarantees extended leave under certain circumstances, but it doesn’t have to be compensated.) About 80% of workers have access to paid sick days, meaning 1 in 5 don’t, according to estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And those who lack them fall disproportionately near the low end of the pay scale: Only 40% of workers in the bottom decile of wages can call out sick and still get paid.

[...] Polling shows that voters tend to really like the idea of requiring employers to provide workers with paid leave and that support for the policy tends to cross party lines, much like boosting the minimum wage. A majority of states, including some red ones, now mandate a higher minimum wage than the federal level of $7.25 per hour, thanks in large part to statewide referendums. This year’s sick leave initiatives in Missouri and Alaska pair the proposals with minimum wage hikes that would send the state rates to $15 per hour within a few years. The current state rates are $12.30 in Missouri and $11.73 in Alaska. Using ballot measures makes a lot of sense for paid leave advocates since the strategy provides a way around Republican-dominated statehouses that won’t advance paid leave legislation. Such proposals have fared well when put directly to voters in other states, though not all states allow referendums.

A few states will have paid sick leave ballot measures this fall to vote on, such as Missouri and Nebraska.