How do I tell my job?
Say less than you think you need to, and say it in writing.
You do not owe your manager a diagnosis or a story. You owe them a heads up and a plan. 'I have a family member with a serious health condition. I may need intermittent time off. I am starting the FMLA paperwork with HR' is a complete sentence. Stop there.
Look up FMLA. If your employer has fifty or more employees and you have been there a year, you likely qualify for twelve weeks of job-protected leave, and here is the part nobody tells you: you can take it intermittently. An afternoon here, a morning there. Not one twelve week block.
Go through HR, not just your manager. Managers change. Paper does not.
More tough questions
- Is it wrong that I sometimes wish it was over?
- How do I get my brother to actually help?
- Am I allowed to move her into a facility?
- What do I do when she doesn't know who I am?
- How am I supposed to afford this?
- What if I resent her?
- Do I have to forgive her first?
- What happens to me when this is over?
- Why don't I feel anything anymore?