Leave from work is a decision with paperwork attached, and most of that paperwork is not in the hospice office. Before you give your employer a start date, sit down with the HR contact or the benefits page and ask the questions below. Write each answer down with the date you asked, the name of the person, and what they said.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Ask whether your parent's condition qualifies

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act lets an eligible employee take unpaid, job-protected leave to care for a parent with a serious health condition. Eligibility generally depends on how long you have worked for the employer, how many hours you worked in the last twelve months, and how many employees the company has near your worksite. Those thresholds are set in the federal rule, and the Sources page shows where to read it. Ask HR to check each one against your own record instead of relying on your memory of the policy.

Ask how the leave can be taken

Ask how many workweeks you can take, whether the leave can be split into pieces such as a few days a week, and whether it must be continuous. Ask whether the employer requires a medical certification form, who completes it, and how long it usually takes to get back. The hospice social worker or nurse can often tell you what the family usually needs to provide, but the employer decides what form it will accept.

Ask what happens to pay and health coverage

Ask whether any part of the leave is paid, whether accrued vacation or sick time must be used first, and whether your health coverage continues during the leave and at what cost to you. Ask whether a Missouri program or an employer benefit applies on top of the federal leave. Do not assume the answer. Ask for the name of the policy and read it yourself.

Ask what your job will look like when you return

Ask whether your position is held for you, what happens if the role changes while you are away, and whether a flexible schedule is available as an alternative to full leave. Confirm the answers by email. A short note saying what you were told is worth more than a verbal promise you will later have to reconstruct.

Before you commit

Make a one-page list with your leave dates, your pay during the leave, your coverage, and the single person who approved each item. Keep it where the rest of the family's papers are kept. If an answer is unclear or the policy seems to conflict with what you were told, the next step is a conversation with an employment attorney or your state labor office. This page explains what to ask. It is not legal advice.