Josh Goodbaum: Hi, Amanda.
Amanda DeMatteis: Hi, Josh. What are we gonna talk about today?
Goodbaum: As we speak, the Connecticut General Assembly is debating a bill about homeschooling, and one of the things it would do is require reporting of how many students are homeschooled in Connecticut. At a minimum, there are thousands of kids who are homeschooled, and their parents – a lot of them have jobs, and they’re trying to figure out how do I manage the fact that I’m homeschooling my child at the same time that I’m trying to work a part- or full-time job.
That led me to wonder what kind of rights do working parents have when they’re homeschooling their children? Do they have a right to a reasonable accommodation to homeschool their kids? Do they have a right to take time off in order to homeschool their kids? What are the rights of Connecticut employees vis-à-vis homeschooling?
DeMatteis: The answer is a short one, Josh, and that is they don’t have any. If you are choosing to homeschool your child, there is no protection under either federal or state law that says, “Hey, employee, you can do this, and you are entitled to an accommodation. You are entitled to time off, or you are entitled to a reduced schedule in order to instruct or to teach your children at home.”
Maybe with this new legislation that is being considered in Connecticut, maybe if it passes elsewhere in the country, maybe we could see a shift on this, and that would be really interesting. But right now, there is no protection under federal or state law for employees to homeschool their children.
Now remember: If your child is sick or has some type of a medical condition, that’s very different, and we do see protection there under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family & Medical Leave Act. If you have a child who is sick, maybe you need some time off in order to care for a sick child; that protection is there.
But if you’re choosing to instruct your child at home or teach them, homeschool them, there’s just no protection for that. So, let’s keep an eye on this.
It’s really interesting to see the evolution of these employment law issues and how the law responds to them, but for now, no protection under state or federal law, Josh.
Goodbaum: Really important information, Amanda, but remember, if you’re an employee who wants to homeschool your kid, wants to have flexibility, there’s nothing wrong with asking your employer to help make that happen. You might be a very valuable employee, they might want to make some changes for you, so you can work part-time, so you can have more flexibility, and that’s the kind of thing you can work out with your employer in a conversation.
You can’t get something if you don’t ask for it, and if that’s something you think an employment lawyer might be able to help you with, you could certainly consider contacting one.
But for now, that’s the information.
Thank you, Amanda. Thank you all for watching. We’ll see you next time.