Feb 6 2026
Amanda DeMatteis: Hi, Josh.
Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda. What are we talking about today?
DeMatteis: Well, it is wintertime in New England, and schools were closed or had a delayed opening today, and I needed to be in the office, but I also needed somewhere for my three- and five-year-old girls to go. So, guess what? They ended up here with us at Garrison Law, and we just had to make do. And it really got me thinking: What do working moms do in these really difficult situations where they have to be at work, they don’t have childcare because of an unexpected closure or delayed opening at school? Are there any laws that protect women, female mothers, or fathers who are taking on this childcare role in Connecticut who find themselves in this really tough situation?
Goodbaum: I think the short answer, unfortunately, Amanda, is no. If your child has a serious health condition, you have a right to take time away from work under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and you have a right to seek compensation in the state of Connecticut under the Connecticut Paid Leave Authority if you are sick or your child is sick.
Likewise, if you have a child with a disability, you could get, you could seek FMLA time, but you don’t have a right to an accommodation from your employer because of the disability of a family member, and here, we’re not even talking about a child being sick, or a child having a disability; we’re just talking about a child who has nowhere else to go.
That, unfortunately, is one of the realities of being a working parent in this country, particularly on something like a snow day, where so much is unexpected, and everybody is fumbling and trying to make do, right? Your choices there are to use whatever flexibility you have from your job, and fortunately, Amanda, you do have quite a lot of flexibility as a partner in a law firm. A lot of people don’t, and so, really, the only thing you can do there is take a sick day, use your PTO, or you can ask your employer for some sort of accommodation.
Now, it wouldn’t be a legally-mandated accommodation. This is not the same as asking for an accommodation for a disability. But, nonetheless, you can go to your employer and say, “Hey, my kids don’t have anywhere to be today. I would need to take a PTO day, but could I work from home? I can take care of them, and I can work. You know me, I’ve been here a long time. I’m reliable. I’m a good employee. Can you cut me a little bit of slack?” I don’t think there’s any harm in asking about that.
Your employer is not required to grant you that request, but you do wanna keep in mind that, in Connecticut, being a parent of small children is arguably a protected status, so if your employer is cutting a lot of slack to people who are asking for other reasons — because they wanna go to a football game or they wanna meet the plumber at home — but not to parents of young children, that might be something to talk with an employment lawyer about because that might suggest discrimination on the basis of parental status.
DeMatteis: You know, we talk all the time, Josh, to potential clients that may not have legal claims about goodwill arguments or asking for something just for the sake of goodwill at work, and it is something that we tell people to do all the time, because sometimes you’ll be really pleasantly surprised that your employer will be able to help or be willing to help or assist, even if they are not required to do so legally under either state or federal law. So, if you find yourself in a position like I do, I certainly hope your employer will give you some grace.
Thank you so much for watching, and for all you working parents out there, hang in there. We’re all going to get through it together. Take care.
Posted by Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. in Commentary
Tagged Amanda DeMatteis, Joshua Goodbaum
