The former head of the children's department at the Derry (N.H.) Public Library has sued the city for what she claims is a violation of her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
In January 1996, Sharon Curtis Phelan asked for an extra 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for her terminally ill husband Daniel and a two-year-old daughter. According to the January 29 Boston Globe, Library Director John Courtney denied the request and reportedly told Phelan that she would lose her job and medical insurance if she refused to return to work. Nevertheless Phelan decided to stay at home to take care of her husband until he died of colon cancer in March.
Lawyers claim that the library is exempt from granting the leave under the provisions of the act because it has too few employees and because Phelan had not worked there long enough.
Posted February 9, 1998.