Thanks for the input. The United States had to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because large companies (more than 50 employees) who were committed to nothing but the bottom line were obviously not willing to voluntarily keep a job open when an employee needed time to care for a sick parent. Even with the FMLA, it only provides for 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year. It sounds like SIA is pretty reasonable.