Request By:
Judy Hughes, President
Owensboro Education Association
1100 Walnut Street
Owensboro, KY 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: CHRIS GORMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Lynne Schroering, Assistant Attorney General
You have written our office on behalf of the Owensboro Education Association regarding the definition of immediate family.
KRS 161.155(1)(c) deals with sick leave policies and defines immediate family as "the teacher's spouse, children including stepchildren, parents and spouse's parents, and grandparents and spouse's grandparents. "
You question whether son-in-law and daughter-in-law may be included within this list of immediate family members.
The answer to your question is in the negative. All words in a statute should be construed according to their common and approved usage. KRS 446.080(4). We must assume that the legislature knew the relationship of a son-in-law and daughter-in-law to a teacher and could have included the terms in the definition of immediate family if they so intended. For example, in KRS 160.180(1) the definition of "relative" includes the terms son-in-law and daughter-in-law. Therefore, we believe that a son-in-law and daughter-in-law are not included in the definition of immediate relative in KRS 161.155(1)(c).