Amy Brennan remembers the call from a human resources representative that jolted her back to the office after taking family leave: “We understand your mother passed away yesterday. We just wanted to let you know your leave is officially over today.”
Soon after, her manager called with another message: Brennan’s family leave “wasn’t okay” because it added work to her manager’s desk.
Brennan worked more than 80 hours a week and earned a nomination for a high-profile fellowship before her leave. But after being passed over for opportunities she felt she had earned, and with her manager setting up additional unachievable hurdles, she sensed she was being pushed out — set up to fail.
“It wasn’t right what they did,” she says, eight years later. “They did it to other women before me.”
Brennan describes a workplace culture in which management didn’t support employees with family caregiver duties, but instead “punished” them. She filed internal complaints, but after many months without a response, management curtly denied wrongdoing.
“I couldn’t just leave and not say anything,” Brennan says. She eventually built a legal case and was told she had grounds to proceed, but after nearly exhausting her life savings in legal fees, she chose not to go to court. “There was a hope that, by flagging it to HR, I could prevent it from happening to someone else,” she says.
Today, Brennan is executive director of the Illinois Family Caregiver Coalition, which advocates for caregiver services and protections, including House Bill 2161, which took effect in January 2025 and amended the Illinois Human Rights Act. That legislation gives Illinois the nation’s strongest protections against caregiver discrimination, ensuring employers base decisions on job performance rather than real or perceived caregiving responsibilities.
Before the law, about 11% of family responsibility discrimination cases nationwide involved elder care.
It’s no surprise that about half of employed caregivers quietly manage their caregiving duties, while the other half say their supervisor knows about their responsibilities, according to the “Caregiving in the U.S.” 2025 report by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. The new law will help protect this growing population of family caregivers, whose numbers rose 32% between 2011 and 2022.
More than half (56%) of the family caregivers surveyed in the recent AARP report said they had no other choice but to take on the role. And that results in worse mental health outcomes, more days of physical strain, and lower perceived purpose in caregiving.
Caregiving also can have profound financial consequences, including lost income and savings — sometimes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
Most unpaid caregivers are women, who already face persistent pay inequities. And workers facing these pressures often see few good options.
If they stay, employers may label them unreliable for arriving late, leaving early, or taking time off for caregiving. Even then, they may work longer hours to compensate for their loved one’s lost income.
If they go part time, they often lose employer-sponsored health insurance and other benefits.
Julie Harris, whose name has been changed for privacy, says she thought continuing full-time work was a “no-brainer.” Her performance stayed steady — and so did her standing at work — while she cared for her parents, at least at first.
But during the Covid-19 pandemic, her father’s health worsened, and her mother needed help. Harris told her employer, a healthcare company, about her caregiving duties and asked for remote work to protect her high-risk father and support him at home.
Her request was approved, but she says the chief financial officer soon grew hostile. She was later laid off during the pandemic.
In retrospect, she says, “I was very glad that they laid me off because I was then able to look out for my parents.”
In her next job, Harris was hesitant to ask for accommodations. At her current workplace, she says she waits to see how managers treat others in similar situations before speaking up.
Research from the Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregivers shows that many employees — across nearly every demographic group — hesitate to disclose their caregiving responsibilities to employers.
Those groups include workers at small businesses, both men and women, people aged 18 to 44, people of color, college-educated employees, lower-paid workers, and hourly workers. Their reasons range from thinking their caregiving isn’t relevant to fearing job loss. Roughly 3 in 4 said they would be willing to disclose their caregiving duties if necessary to qualify for related benefits.
Those concerns are valid. Biases against caregivers are common and particularly affect those caring for older adults.
In fact, 80% of family caregivers said their employers were more understanding of childcare than elder care and offered fewer benefits to support the latter.
Access to caregiver benefits has expanded through policies such as the Family and Medical Leave Act. But coverage remains uneven. Adults are now four times more likely to leave a job due to eldercare responsibilities than to childcare.
Marla Fronczak, CEO of the area agency on aging AgeGuide in Northeastern Illinois, says many managers don’t fully understand the demands of caregiving for older adults unless they’ve lived it.
Older adult caregiving, she explains, is inherently regressive — meaning the care recipient’s needs typically increase as their health needs may worsen — while childcare tends to lessen over time as children grow more independent.
Fronczak says she’s hopeful the stigma around caregiving for older adults will continue to fade as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker supports aging and caregiving initiatives, and as employers become more aware through outreach from the Illinois Family Caregiver Coalition.
Observe your workplace culture. Harris suggests assessing how supervisors and coworkers support colleagues and how they handle caregiving duties. That can signal how your employer values employees’ well-being. Consider proactive communication, such as a weekly email that summarizes your tasks and accomplishments while working remotely.
Consult human resources or the employee assistance program. Ask about eligibility for federal Family and Medical Leave Act protections, and seek guidance on taking time off or adjusting schedules.
Contact your local caregiver resource center. Six regional Area Agencies on Aging in Illinois can connect you with employment programs, financial guidance, legal services, and more caregiving support services.
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