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You’re not normally one to let your personal life interfere with work, but when you’re ducking out of the office a few times a week to take Dad to dialysis or your kid to physical therapy, it’s tough to get everything done to your usual standard.

Perhaps you need a break from juggling. Thanks to the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you may be entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off per year to tend to certain family-care needs. More workers took advantage of this right in the past year, a recent Towers Watson survey found.

"As the economy picked up, people felt more comfortable asking for time away to deal with personal matters," explains Tom Billet, a senior consultant at the firm. Should you find yourself needing a respite to focus on family, take these steps to ease the transition.

Know your rights

To qualify for FMLA leave, you must have worked for a company with 50 or more employees for at least a year and put in 1,250 hours in that time. FMLA applies if you, a parent, child, or spouse develops a serious illness, sustains a major injury, or requires ongoing medical treatment.

Other eligible circumstances: births, adoptions, and the deployment or recuperation of a military family member. The law guarantees that your position will be restored when you return. Health coverage continues while you’re away, but you probably won’t accrue vacation or retirement benefits.

More men choosing kids over career

See if you afford it

Before putting in for leave, be sure you can manage without the income. Don’t have several months’ expenses banked in an emergency fund? Use paid vacation first.

For your own ailments, exhaust sick days; also inquire about short-term disability. Should your relative only require intermittent care, take the leave, but work a few days on, a few days off to keep cash coming in.

Get buy-in from the boss

You can’t be fired for taking FMLA leave, but the way you manage this process can affect the way your employers view you — and your promotability. So be proactive.

Start by explaining the situation to your boss (you’ll be required to provide proof). Specify how much time off you’ll need, and ask what you can do to lessen workflow disruption.

"Problems arise when people take leaves in dribs and drabs," says Las Vegas employment lawyer Mary Chapman. "It’s harder for HR to keep track, and co-workers inherit a larger workload."

Best to make the leave as predictable as possible. For example, schedule appointments for Junior’s physical needs at the same time each week. Also, open up to co-workers about what you’re dealing with, advises Christopher Metzler, a human resources professor at Georgetown. Otherwise, your empty chair may raise eyebrows — and questions about whether you’re slacking.

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U.S. builders trimmed activity for a second straight month in February, pushing construction spending down by the largest amount in seven months. There was widespread weakness with spending on home building, office construction and government projects all dropping.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that construction spending fell 1.1 percent in February after a drop of 0.8 percent in January which was revised down from an initial estimate of a decline of 0.1 percent.

With the back-to-back declines, construction spending stood at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $808.9 billion in February, just 6.1 percent above a low hit in March 2011 and about one-third lower than the high hit during the housing boom.

The construction weakness over the past two months underscored that the nation’s construction industry is still struggling to emerge from the 2007-2009 recession, a decline that was triggered by a collapse in housing following an unsustainable boom in that sector.

Housing construction was unchanged in February at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $246.5 billion after a small 0.1 percent dip in January. The weakness last month came from a 1.5 percent drop in construction of single-family homes which offset a 2 percent rise in apartment construction.

Spending on non-residential construction projects dropped 1.6 percent following a 2.3 percent decline in January. The February decline reflected weakness in office construction, hotels and shopping malls.

Government construction dropped 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $281 fast cash without a hassle.6 billion with state and local building projects down 2.1 percent while spending by the federal government rose 1.9 percent..

In February, sales of new homes fell for a second straight month, a reminder that the depressed housing market remains weak despite some signs of improvement.

Sales of new homes fell 1.6 percent in February to an annual rate of 313,000. That is less than half the 700,000 homes that economists consider to be healthy. By contrast, a mild winter and three months of strong job gains have lifted sales of previously owned homes but that support has not benefited the new home market.

Sales of previously owned homes have risen more than 13 percent since July and January and February combined for the best winter of re-sales in five years, right at the start of the housing crisis.

Though new-home sales represent less than 10 percent of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Builders are growing more confident after seeing a growing number of people express interest in buying this year. They’ve responded by requesting the most permits to build single-family homes and apartments since October 2008.

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The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its forecasts for growth and inflation this year, enabling policy makers to reduce the benchmark interest rate should the economy weaken significantly.

Americans’ incomes rose last month by the most in nine months, a hopeful sign after a year of weak wage gains.

The Commerce Department says incomes rose 0.5 percent, the strongest increase since a similar gain in March. Consumer spending was unchanged, following weak gains of 0.1 percent in both October and November.

The income increase after paying taxes and adjusting for inflation was 0.3 percent in December. For the year, inflation-adjusted incomes rose 0.9 percent, just half the modest 1.8 percent rise in 2010.

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Asian policy makers eager to sustain growth in 2012 may put their economies at risk with interest- rate cuts or fiscal stimulus that some can ill-afford.

The likelihood of

Deep into overtime, negotiators from 194 nations worked straight through a second night, parsing drafts and seeking compromises to map out the future pathway to fight global warming.

Delegates, working on little sleep, huddled with allies to prepare for a decisive meeting later Saturday, when it will become clear whether the diverse and long-bickering parties can come together on a plan to extend and broaden the global campaign to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

“We think it’s important not to give up now. We have come a long way,” said a weary Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner on climate issues, speaking more than 12 hours after the two-week conference had been scheduled to close Friday evening.

But she was concerned that the process was taking so long that ministers would leave before decisions could be adopted, costing hard-won momentum. “It would really really be a pity if we lose that now,” she told The Associated Press.

Small island countries and the world’s poorest nations lined up behind an EU plan to begin talks on a future agreement that would come into effect no later than 2020.

As negotiations progressed, the United States and India eased objections to compromise texts, but China remained a strong holdout, EU officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the continuing talks.

Under discussion was an extension of binding pledges by the EU and a few other industrial countries to cut carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. Those commitments expire next year.

The EU, the primary bloc bound by commitments under the 1997 protocol, conditioned an extension on starting new talks on an accord to succeed Kyoto. The talks would conclude by 2015, allowing five years for it to be ratified by national legislatures. The plan insists the new agreement equally oblige all countries _ not just the few industrial powers _ to abide by emission targets.

Developing countries are adamant that the Kyoto commitments continue since it is the only agreement that compels any nation to reduce emissions. Industrial countries say the document is deeply flawed because it makes no demands on heavily polluting developing countries. It was for that reason that the U.S. never ratified it.

Host country South Africa organized the final stages of negotiations into “indabas,” a Zulu-language word meaning important meetings that carry the weight of a rich African culture.

At the indaba, the chief delegate from fewer than 30 countries, each with one aide, sat around an oblong table to thrash over text. Dozens of delegates were allowed to stand and observe from the periphery of the room but not to participate.

After the first meeting that ran overnight into Friday morning, conference president Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who is South Africa’s foreign minister, drafted an eight-point compromise on the key question of the legal form of a post-2020 regime. The wording would imply how tightly countries would be held accountable for their emissions.

But the text was too soft for the Europeans and for the most vulnerable countries threatened by rising oceans, more frequent droughts and fiercer storms.

With passion rarely heard in a negotiating room, countries like Barbados pleaded for language instructing all parties to dig deeper into their carbon emissions and to speed up the process, arguing that the survival of their countries and millions of climate-stressed people were at risk.

Nkoana-Mashabane drafted new text after midnight Saturday that largely answered those criticisms. The U.S. told the indaba it could live with the language, but the reactions of China and India were not clear.

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A person briefed on the matter says leaking coolant is the likely cause of fires that broke out in the Chevrolet Volt’s battery after government crash tests.

The person says General Motors engineers are developing structural changes to make the electric car and the battery pack more crash-resistant.

The person says the coolant did not catch fire, but it crystallized and created an electrical short that caused the fires. The person didn’t want to be identified because the findings are not final.

Federal safety regulators started investigating the Volt’s battery last month after three fires.

The flames came seven days to three weeks after the crash tests. GM says there’s no threat of fire right after a crash. It also says no Volts have caught fire after real-world crashes.

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They were lined up 300 deep before the store opened at 8 a.m.

Fans of Maple Leaf Gardens and Loblaws came to see how Canada’s most famous hockey arena looked now that it’s home to the supermarket chain’s newest urban grocery store.

They came from outside the city, from places like Malton, or from Toronto neighbourhoods, like Forest Hill and Riverdale. Ordinary citizens, hockey players and local politicians were among the first customers.

They weren’t disappointed.

The store, with its soaring ceilings, blonde wood, grey concrete and black tiles, forms a hip urban backdrop to a smorgasbord of fresh and prepared food the company hopes will cement its reputation as a leader in food retailing.

“The Loblaw store you’re about to shop, in our judgment, re-imagines a large urban supermarket at once recognizing the diversity of the neighbourhood that surrounds it and the national significance of the site,” Loblaw executive chairman Galen G. Weston said just prior to the opening.

The store pays homage to its past as Canada’s best known hockey arena, from the original lights, exposed brick and Maple Leaf-shaped wall sculpture in the atrium made from arena seats to the red dot on the floor in aisle 25 that marks centre ice.

But it’s also Loblaw’s biggest bet on its future since Weston took over from his father, W. Galen Weston, five years ago.

The store is the first full-service conventional grocery store the company has built in 12 years, Weston told reporters. It follows an ill-fated expansion into superstores that carried both food and general merchandise.

“I’m a Leaf fan. I’ve been a season ticket holder for over 30 years. I saw games here. This has great memories for me. I’m really happy they left a big historical site,” said Mike Seiden, who lives in Forest Hill but came down to see what the buzz was all about.

“I met Galen Weston. And his wife. I got a picture with him. He was signing autographs,” Seiden added. “He’s a great guy. I love him.”

Paula Firmino and Reg McLean, who live in Toronto’s Riverdale neighborhood, also stopped to congratulate Weston on the store and get their picture taken with him payday loan.

“After all the hype I wanted to see what it was really like. I love it. What they’ve done here is make it an experience to shop,” Firmino said.

“There was such a shortage of grocery stores downtown for many years. Now, with all the condos being built, it’s nice to have a place to walk to and shop, other than those tiny little places everywhere where everything is very expensive and you don’t get much of a selection,” McLean added.

Former city councilor Kyle Rae, who represented the area, said he was delighted with how the store had turned out. “The attention to detail is remarkable. For the community, it’s a real win, a great grocery store. For the rest of the city it’s going to be a destination to come and see what’s been done here.”

Former Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player Dickie Duff recalled how the Gardens was home to him for the 10 years he played with the Leafs in the 1950s and ‘60s.

“The Loblaw guys deserve a lot of credit. They’ve done a super nice job,” said Duff, who clinched the 1962 Stanley Cup for the Leafs when he scored the winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6.

Some of the store’s features, such as its in-house executive chef and kitchen, will be unique to the Gardens location, said Jane Marshall, executive vice-president of Loblaw Properties division.

The kitchen serves the “Canteen,” which serves “prêt-a-manger” style fresh ready made sandwiches and salads.

The store features a sushi bar run by its subsidiary T&T Supermarkets, an Asian food chain.

The store serves a potential market of about 100,000 people, who live in the area, and another 25 to 30 per cent who work in the surrounding office towers and retail outlets, Marshall said.

It’s also the only downtown grocery store with parking, she noted. One of the biggest challenges of the renovation was digging under the building to add 154 underground parking spaces, she said.

At 82,000 square feet, the store is considered large by inner city standards though Loblaw operates bigger stores in suburban markets.

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LONDON — The collapse of talks aimed at reducing the staggering U.S. budget deficit weighed on world markets Tuesday but failed to stifle a rebound in Europe.

Stocks took a pummeling on Monday after a so-called supercommittee in Congress failed to reach a deal to cut the U.S. federal budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. While not entirely unexpected, the failure heightened worries that political bickering — in the U.S. and Europe — will hurt efforts to cut debt during a period of declining economic growth.

European countries are locked in a debate over how to provide a lasting solution to their debt crisis, which is causing borrowing rates to rise to dangerous highs for ever-larger countries.

Many countries would like the European Central Bank to step up its bond purchases, which have the effect of keeping down borrowing rates. It currently buys bonds in limited amounts, but experts say it needs to expand the program significantly if it is to be effective.

Germany, however, opposes such a move for fear it would create inflation and saddle the central bank with bad loans.

Berlin is also against issuing eurobonds — debt backed by all 17 eurozone nations — that the European Commission is pushing for this week. Chancellor Angela Merkel is worried it would expose German taxpayers to irresponsible spending in other countries and erode pressure on governments to reform their economies.

As the leaders struggle to find common ground, the markets remained on edge.

Spain was forced to pay sharply higher interest rates in an auction of short-term debt, suggesting investor remain wary of the country’s financial prospects despite a new, center-right government coming to power this week.

European stocks were up slightly after huge losses on Monday, as some investors sought bargains. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent to 5,251.46 while Germany’s DAX rose 1.1 percent to 5,664.73 and France’s CAC-40 gained 1.0 percent to 2,922.81.

Wall Street was headed for a soft opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures flat to 11,519 and S&P 500 futures up 0.5 percent at 1,196.

Shares in Asia struggled to make headway after Monday’s losses on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 percent to 8,314.74, its lowest close since March 2009.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.7 percent to 4,133. China’s Shanghai Composite Index edged 0.1 percent lower to 2,412.63. Benchmarks in Taiwan, Malaysia and New Zealand also fell.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng erased early losses, rising 0.1 percent to end at 18,251.59 and South Korea’s Kospi index rose 0.3 percent to 1,826.28.

Clouds are gathering in Asia, where Singapore — seen as a bellwether of Western demand because of its very high reliance on trade — said Monday its economy would likely suffer a sharp slowdown in 2012 as export orders from developed countries wane.

“I think we are looking at maybe 2 percent growth for the entire world. For a normal year, global economic growth will be like 4 percent, but now it has to revise down to about 2 percent, so you are taking out a big chunk of the GDP … around the world,” said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.

Losses among Asian stocks were broad-based and included banks and consumer shares.

Hong Kong-listed China Construction Bank and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group both fell 1.1 percent. Hong Kong-listed GOME Electrical Appliances slid 1.9 percent and China Garments Co. lost 2.3 percent.

Mainland Chinese shares in power, food and travel companies led the gains while shares in chemical, aviation and auto companies weakened. Air China Ltd. lost 5.5 percent while Bright Food (Group) Co. gained 3 percent.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3533 from $1.3496 late Monday in New York. The dollar was roughly unchanged at 76.93 yen.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 93 cents at $97.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 75 cents to settle at $96.92 in New York on Monday.

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