Unfortunately, there are many countries and states that don’t offer paid time off to care for a family member, let alone time off to care for your pet.
Which is beyond ridiculous because most people with a pet will tell you that their pet is, in fact, a member of their family.
I mean who refers to themselves as mommy when speaking to your dog or cat? Yeah… me too. My cat is my child.
And that’s exactly how an Italian woman named Anna felt about her English setter named Cucciola, which means Puppy in Italian.
Thanks to Anna efforts in standing up for her right as an animal parent, the rest of us may one day be able to get paid time off during emergencies when we have to care for our pets.
Poor Cucciola had a medical situation and needed emergency surgery right away.
That meant that Anna would have to take a few days off of work to take care for him. So, she explained to her supervisors at Rome’s Sapienza University why she needed to take a few days off.
She assumed that they understood and would allow her to take those days off without being penalized. However, when she returned to work after caring for Cucciola, she found out that the days she was away were counted as vacation days.
“I had asked for the paid allowance, honestly explaining what I needed it for — namely to care for my sick dog,” Anna told La Stampa, according to the New York Times. “I later realized that they had counted those days as a holiday, and I got angry as a matter of principle.”
Anna was understandably upset by this because taking care of a loved one is no vacation at all. Not only is it upsetting but it’s the opposite of relaxing and a lot of work.
Anna didn’t just want to shrug off this injustice without seeing what recourse might be available to her.
So, she reached out to the folks at Lega Anti Vivisezione (LAV) for some help.
According to Goodfullness, the animal advocacy decided to step in and argue Anna’s case to her employer explaining that if Anna hadn’t taken off work to care for her dog she could have gotten into some legal trouble if she ignored her dog’s condition and penalized under the animal abandonment and mistreatment laws.
https://www.facebook.com/LAVonlus/photos/a.120223393412.123116.53347533412/10155886620708413/?type=3&permPage=1
Thanks to their efforts Anna’s job reversed their decision and gave her back her vacation days.
Not only did they help out Anna, but that ruling set a precedent for other employers and will make it harder for them to deny an employee paid leave to care for a sick pet.
“This is the first time that this has happened in Italy,” LAV wrote on their Facebook page according to a translation. “Now those who are in similar situations will be able to quote this important precedent.”
A victory for animal parents everywhere!
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