Hi Again--
Just wanted to update everyone about progress with this - as I suspected I am not eligible for FMLA but through open discussion and negotiations with my producers and AGVA rep we are working on coming to a similar agreement that may allow for several weeks of unpaid leave. Caveats to this are that I am of course not eligible to earn weeks towards my paid vacation time, or health weeks while on leave (luckily I have already worked my 20 weeks so I won't lose my benefits)
Of course, as we all know with an open ended commercial run, no one knows if we will still be running in several weeks...
I feel very fortunate that I have an understanding office team, producers, co-workers and subs who are willing to work on this with me so they don't lose me-I am sure it is not the case for every instance of family emergency. I'll feel better once we have something in writing to guide us, but overall considering the circumstances I am relieved that (for now) it seems to be working out.