Family leave laws need changes, Congress told

[unhappycamper]

Family leave laws need changes, Congress told
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 18, 2007 17:18:16 EDT

Sarah Wade’s story of losing her job for taking too much time off to help care for her combat-injured husband is helping to persuade Congress to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides unpaid leave in family emergencies.

Army Sgt. Edward Wade was severely injured by a roadside bomb in 2004 while serving in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division. His right arm was severed and he suffered a fractured leg, broken foot, shrapnel wounds and complications from anemia, hyperglycemia and infections. And, like thousands of other Iraq veterans, he also sustained severe traumatic brain injuries.

Initially evacuated to the U.S. in a coma, he has had a slow recovery and still requires a full-time assistant.

Testifying on Tuesday before a House subcommittee, Sarah Wade said she initially held on to her restaurant job in Chapel Hill, N.C., while making a 320-mile trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to be with her husband three days a week. She continued to work “so I would not lose our house or my job,” but she had to withdraw from college.

After being retired on a disability, the injured soldier was transferred for treatment to North Carolina but had to be transferred back to Washington because the extended care facility wasn’t prepared to handle such severe multiple injuries, Wade told members of the House Education and Labor subcommittee on workforce protection. Even being treated at Walter Reed proved difficult because Wade’s brain injuries made it difficult for him to complete prosthetic training, his wife said.

About 15 months after her husband’s injury, she said she was fired. “Due to frequent travel to Walter Reed for services, I was unable to return to regular work or my studies,” she said.

Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/09/military_familyleave_070918w/