Lindsay Austin and her husband, Lamar, sit with their newborn son, Cainan, on New Year’s Day in Concord. LEAH WILLINGHAM For the Monitor 
 
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 Four days ago, Lamar Austin became the proud father of the first baby born in Concord, losing his job after missing work to be with his family at the hospital. 
 
 He chose to remain positive, he said, focusing on his new son instead of the job he lost. 
 
 “Sometimes you lose something and you get something even better,” he said Sunday afternoon while resting at Concord Hospital with his wife, Lindsay, and baby boy, Cainan. 
 
 Since then, the military veteran and father of four has received at least three job offers, an outpouring of support and a fundraising page dedicated to helping his family financially. 
 
 After reading in the Monitor that Austin was hoping to get into electrical work, Denis Beaudoin, the business manager from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Concord, offered Austin the chance to apply for an apprenticeship. 
 
 Beaudoin lives in Pittsfield, the same town as Austin, and said electrical work might offer a more flexible and understanding environment for someone like Austin, who has a big family and wants to devote time to it. 
 
 “I know how valuable family time is, and if you’re a union member we incorporate that, we understand that, and we don’t penalize you for that,” Beaudoin said. 
 
 Glenn Brackett, president of the NH AFL-CIO union, which represents nearly 30,000 workers, also offered Austin an apprenticeship. 
 
 And the branch manager of the Adecco staffing agency in Portsmouth offered to help Austin find another job. 
 
 Old job 
 
 Austin said he was hired by Salerno Protective Services a month ago for a 90-day trial period as a part-time security guard in which he was expected to be on call 24/7. Salerno Protective Services provides security to clients including stores and college campuses. 
 
 When Austin got the job, the company told him they were looking for “dependable people,” he said. 
 
 Austin said he couldn’t cover one shift offered to him last month because he had to take his wife to a doctor’s appointment. Then Lindsay went into labor Friday night and Cainan was born Sunday morning. Austin said he missed shifts Friday and Saturday. At 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day, Austin said he got a text that read: “As of now, you are terminated.” 
 
 The company said Tuesday it wouldn’t comment on an employee’s status. 
 
 “Being shrouded in confidentiality we are unable to comment until all business with Mr. Austin has been concluded,” president and CEO Anthony Salerno said by email Wednesday. “SPS is not in the practice of releasing employees for reasons stated in the article you published but must be cognizant of the product we give our clients!” 
 
 Family support 
 
 The story struck a chord with readers who questioned whether an employee could be fired for missing work due to the birth of a child. 
 
 Because New Hampshire is an “at-will” employment state, an employer may generally terminate an employment relationship for part-time or full-time workers at any time and for any reason, with a few exceptions. That means Austin has little in the way of legal protection, no matter how good an excuse the birth of a child may seem, legal experts said. 
 
 Sara Persechino, a mother of two in Hopkinton, doesn’t think that’s fair. Persechino was on the Hopkinton select board in 2014 when it unanimously voted in favor of paid family leave for town employees. 
 
 “I don’t think anyone should ever have to choose between their family and their job,” she said. 
 
 She decided to set up a GoFundMe account for the Austin family. 
 
 “I don’t think they should have to be worrying about financial issues right now; it should be a joyful time for them,” Persechino said. “Anything we can do to make this even more joyous is worth it.” 
 
 As for Austin, he said he is surprised and beyond grateful for all the support. 
 
 “I’m thanking God for delivering one of the many promises,” he said. 
 
 (Leah Willingham can be reached at news@cmonitor.com.) ||||| Lindsay Austin, 26, and her husband, Lamar Austin, 30, sit with their newborn son, Cainan Austin, at Concord Hospital on Jan. 1. Lindsay Austin said she’s thankful for the support her family has received since her story went public. LEAH WILLINGHAM / For the Monitor 
 
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 Lindsay Austin is grateful for all the support her family has received after her husband was fired early New Year’s Day for missing work to attend the birth of their son. 
 
 “I was a little bit upset, because my husband is trying to provide for us and it was hard to swallow when he got fired, but I’m thankful and I feel like we’re blessed,” Austin said Thursday. “It definitely happened for a reason.” 
 
 Austin said she hopes other workers won’t have to make the same choice her husband, Lamar, had to make – go to work or lose his job. 
 
 “Hopefully, we can be part of the movement,” she said, as new baby Cainan, slept nearby. “Hopefully things can change and a law can be passed so this doesn’t affect other people again in the same way.” 
 
 The family’s story – they were featured in Monday’s Monitor after having the first baby of the new year in Concord – caught the public’s eye and struck a chord with many of the state’s legislators and labor leaders. 
 
 State Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord said he tried to create protections for employees like Lamar Austin during the last legislative session with Senate Bill 416, which offers workers “flexible working arrangements,” for reasons including the hospitalization of a family member, or the birth of a child. 
 
 But it’s not the employer’s job to offer flexible arrangements. It’s up to the employee to ask for flexibility, which isn’t possible in all circumstances. 
 
 “Hard-working Granite Staters shouldn’t have to choose between work and family,” Feltes said. 
 
 It’s hard to know if SB416 would have worked out for Austin and his former employer Salerno Protective Services. So far, company president Anthony Salerno has declined to say much about Austin or why he was dismissed. 
 
 Currently, neither the federal nor state government have a family and medical leave law or program. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act allows certain workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid – but job-protected – leave to tend to a serious health condition or to care for a new child or an ill relative. 
 
 However, there are a few catches in the FMLA: including the size of the employer and how many hours an employee had worked over the course of a year. Austin was hired to work as a part-time security guard for Salerno in December and isn’t covered. 
 
 Nationally, about 41 percent of employees are not covered by FMLA, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. 
 
 About half of Granite Staters lack access to parental leave, and less than a third of workers have access to all three types of extended leave: for their own illness, for parental leave and for care of a family member, according to a study done by Kristen Smith, a family demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy. 
 
 Family time 
 
 If New Hampshire wants to attract and retain young workers – Austin is a 30-year-old Army veteran – it needs to offer maternity and paternity leave, but also types of medical leave including those who may need to miss work to care for an ailing partner, child or parent, said Chris D’Allesandro, New Hampshire Mom Force Director of MomsRising, an advocacy group for mothers and families. 
 
 “Key things that millennial workforces are looking for are these kinds of jobs that allow them to divide their time between caring for their families and their professions,” D’Allesandro said. 
 
 Glenn Brackett, president of the NH AFL-CIO union, agreed that New Hampshire needs some kind of legal mechanism for citizens to get time off to care for their families. He said that’s especially true of part-time employees like Lamar Austin. 
 
 “In New Hampshire, we have a lot of temporary employees and part-time employees that aren’t covered under any federal laws, and these people are being basically taken advantage of,” Brackett said. 
 
 Brackett, whose union represents nearly 30,000 workers, challenged the new governor, Chris Sununu, to stand behind legislation change for working families. In his inaugural speech on Thursday, Sununu cited the need for the state to retain and grow a workforce of younger workers. 
 
 “If Gov. Sununu really feels that he has to do something to help working people, using this example of Mr. Austin as a stepping-off point, will he be supportive of legislation that would right this wrong?” Brackett queried. 
 
 Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, who was sworn into office Thursday, cited the plight of the Austin family and said fair labor practices will be at the forefront of his mind during the next two years. 
 
 “When companies come to the state seeking contracts, I want to know about their employment practices,” he said. “And if they’re similar to that security company, I can tell you they’re going to get a hard time from me because they’re not respectful to their employees.” 
 
 Job options 
 
 Lamar Austin is now eyeing a shot at a new career as an electrician – or one of the multiple job opportunities that poured in after people read his story. 
 
 Austin was offered the opportunity to apply for an electrician’s apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Concord, along with a host of other jobs. 
 
 “Anything that would be more stable, and allow me to spend time with my family is a blessing,” Lamar Austin said. 
 
 Of course, the job is no handout, said Denis Beaudoin, the IBEW business manager. 
 
 “We’re giving him the potential hand-up, if you will, by offering him a career in the electrical construction field as an apprentice,” Beaudoin said. 
 
 Beaudoin said a first-year apprentice can make around $28,000 a year, plus benefits. If Austin gets the electrician job, he said it will be the best-paid job he’s ever had. 
 
 As for all the support, it’s been overwhelming, the Austins said. A GoFundMe account created by Sara Persechino, a mother of two from Hopkinton, already exceeded the account’s goal of $1,000 in one day. 
 
 “I didn’t expect this at all,” Lamar Austin said. “I don’t really watch the news or TV, so when I started getting all these emails from people wanting to help, it was a lot to take in.” 
 
 Austin said he’s been in contact with Salerno Protective Services to pick up his last check, hand in his uniform and talk about what happened. He said that, in his mind, there’s no bad blood between them – he understands why Salerno did what he did. 
 
 “It wasn’t a clash of who’s the bigger man,” Austin said. “He had his company, which is like his baby, and I had my baby, which was just being born. Naturally, he’s going to pick his baby over my baby. I can’t blame him for that.” 
 
 (Leah Willingham can be reached at news@cmonitor.com.) ||||| Lindsay Austin, 26, and her husband, Lamar Austin, 30, sit with their newborn son, Cainan, in their room at Concord Hospital on Sunday. Cainan was the first baby born in Concord in 2017. LEAH WILLINGHAM / Monitor staff 
 
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 Lamar Austin was faced with a difficult decision on New Year’s Eve. 
 
 His nine-months-pregnant wife, Lindsay, was in her second day of early labor, but his boss was telling him if he didn’t show up for his shift as a part-time security guard in Manchester, he would lose his job. 
 
 Austin weighed his options, and concluded that no matter the consequences, he wasn’t going to miss his son’s birth. 
 
 “I thought, ‘Family comes before anything else,’ ” Austin said. “I’m not going to turn my back on them for a job.” 
 
 So, at 4 a.m. on the first day of the year, Austin, 30, drove his 26-year-old wife, Lindsay Austin, to Concord Hospital from their home in Pittsfield. He had to be careful on the roads, which were still icy from the snowstorm of the day before. 
 
 After what the couple said felt like four short hours later, their son, Cainan Austin, was born. He arrived at 7:44 a.m. – the first baby of the year in Concord. And, most importantly, Cainan’s father was there to hold him after his birth. 
 
 Later in the afternoon, while resting at the hospital with his wife and newborn, Austin said he felt at peace with the decision to miss work. However, he admitted it hadn’t been easy. Right before he drove his wife to the hospital, his boss sent him a text saying that he was officially terminated. 
 
 “It was hard, but if I have to choose between work and family, I’m always going to pick my family,” he said, gently patting his son’s pink-and-blue striped hat as he slept in his mother’s arms. “Sometimes you lose something, and you get something even better.” 
 
 The couple chose the name Cainan for their son because they thought it was unusual – and both liked it right away when they heard it. When he was born, Cainan was 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 19 inches. His mother noted how similar he looks to her other three children – 8, 3 and 21 months. 
 
 Lindsay was surprised that Cainan was born on his expected due date – Jan. 1. 
 
 “We were laughing about having the first baby of the year,” she said. “We never thought it would actually happen.” 
 
 Lindsay is a stay-at-home-mom, and she said it’s the best job there is. 
 
 “I’m so lucky to be able to do that,” she said. 
 
 The couple met almost 10 years ago on an online dating site, and later had their first daughter, now 8. But Lamar, who was originally from New Jersey and an ammunition specialist in the Army, wasn’t able to move to New Hampshire where Lindsay lived until four years ago. 
 
 In 2012, Lamar arrived in the Granite State hoping to spend more time with his daughter, but he wasn’t able to find housing or a job right away. He lived temporarily at the McKenna House in Concord, while Lindsay stayed with her mother in Manchester. 
 
 Despite some ups and downs, Lindsay and Lamar decided to get married this past year and set up their home. 
 
 Lindsay’s mom was watching the couple’s other three children while they were in the hospital Sunday. Lindsay and Lamar video-chatted Lindsay’s mom from their hospital room, and she reported that Cainan’s brothers and sisters are very excited to meet the family’s newest member. 
 
 Lindsay and Lamar said they had always wanted a big family. 
 
 “We always used to joke about having 10 kids when we first got together, but I think we’re going to be taking a break for a while after this one,” Lindsay said, smiling. 
 
 As for 2017, Lindsay said she just hopes the family stays happy and healthy. Lamar said he wants to focus on spending as much time together as they can. ||||| Investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement say the mother of one of two teen boys who disappeared during a fishing trip nearly two years ago showed an “egregious lapse of judgement and failure to exercise due care.” 
 
 In a newly released report obtained by PEOPLE, the FDLE says the actions – or lack thereof – of Carlson “Carly” Black, mother of 14-year-old Austin Stephanos, “had the effect of culminating in the disappearance of both boys who are now believed to have perished.” 
 
 Austin and his friend Perry Cohen, also 14, vanished into the waters off South Florida’s Jupiter Inlet on July 24, 2015. 
 
 Investigators found probable cause that Black violated Florida State Statute 827.03, which governs abuse, aggravated abuse and neglect of a child. Top factors include evidence that Black allowed her son and Perry to travel offshore in Austin’s “minimally equipped” 19-foot 1978 SeaCraft knowing that the boat lacked basic safety devices. The report says Black also knew Perry’s parents forbade him to go offshore without an adult, waited more than two hours to notify Cohen’s parents that the boys were missing, and failed to notify emergency or law enforcement agencies. 
 
 The last known communication from either of the boys occurred at 11:24 on the morning of their disappearance, when Austin texted Black and his father, Blu Stephanos, Black’s ex-husband. 
 
 “What’s up? I am checking in. I’m just out here fishing,” the text read. 
 
 Coast Guard 
 
 Records show Black testified that around 2:00, she had become aware of a “quick summer storm that rolled in fast … and was fierce.” Realizing that Austin hadn’t checked in again, she began calling and texting her son, as well as Diane Stephanos, Black’s ex-mother-in-law and Austin’s grandmother, whose home the boys visited to pick up tackle and supplies earlier that morning. However, records show that it wasn’t until 3:05 p.m. that she notified her ex-husband that she’d been unable to reach Austin. 
 
 “Call me buddy,” Blu texted to Austin after hearing from Black. Then again a few minutes later: “Hey buddy, got me and your mom really worried about you. Please call immediately or text back.” 
 
 With no response, Blu Stephanos set out on his own boat to search for the boys himself. It wasn’t until 4:12 p.m. that Black called Perry’s mother, Pamela Cohen, to let her know that the boys were missing. It was Pamela’s husband and Perry’s de facto stepfather, Nick Korniloff, who immediately called 911. 
 
 Black’s call to Pamela came “over two hours after they knew or should have known that the boys were in imminent danger,” investigators wrote, adding that it was Kornilloff’s call that prompted the massive, multi-agency search and rescue operation that made headlines worldwide. 
 
 RELATED VIDEO: Inside the Legal Case Involving the Two Florida Teens Lost at Sea 
 
 When reached by PEOPLE Pamela Cohen and Nick Korniloff declined to comment yet, saying only that they needed time to process the latest news. The Stephanos and Black families did not respond to calls seeking comment. 
 
 However, in an interview with investigators, Korniloff “emphatically reiterated his sincere belief that critical hours were lost due to the unexplainable delay in initiating an aggressive, coordinated and effective search and rescue operation soon after the storm,” the report reads. “He is convinced that this fact critically altered the possibilities of rescuing the boys while the opportunity still existed.” 
 
 Investigators write that the boat, “while by all accounts fundamentally sound, was not equipped with any electronic or communications equipment, such as VHF radio, GPS or EPIRB, which would have made a successful rescue infinitely more probable.” 
 
 The report pointedly adds that Black and her husband, Bubba Black, own and manage Jupiter’s Grand Slam Sport Fishing Supply, which means they likely had full knowledge of and access to marine safety and communications equipment. Plus, family members knew that the boys had narrowly avoided being caught in a storm while fishing on the same boat the previous day. 
 
 Still, FDLE officials say Black does not yet face criminal charges. Assistant State Attorney Greg Kridos concluded that, despite strong indication of poor judgment, investigators found insufficient proof to satisfy statutory language and applicable case law relating to Florida’s child neglect statute. Specifically, he says that boating on the open seas is not an “inherently dangerous activity,” which prosecutors consider a critical component in levying criminal charges of child neglect. 
 
 As it stands now, investigators have requested that the case be officially closed. However, should state officials choose to continue the case, investigators say Florida’s State Climatologist David Zierden is prepared to produce a comprehensive report detailing potentially contributing factors of the storm, and that subject matter experts with the U.S. Coast Guard or St. Petersburg’s Eckerd College Search and Rescue Team could provide expert testimony as to the effect that a delayed overdue vessel report could have on the statistical probability of a search and rescue operation. 
 
 “This would be of probative value if the State intends to prove that Ms. Black’s hours-long delay in reporting the boys’ disappearance to Perry Cohen’s parents and her failure to report the overdue vessel to the authorities in a timely manner may have diminished the likelihood of the boys being rescued safely,” the report reads. 
 
 Former State Representative Irving Slosberg, who requested the investigation, tells PEOPLE that he agrees with the FDLE’s decision to withhold charges. Now retired, he says he’ll ask his daughter, State Representative Emily Slosberg, to consider drafting legislation to improve investigation of missing-at-sea cases. 
 
 “I’m going to recommend key legislation mandating that the FDLE, rather than the FWC, investigate all cases of children missing at sea,” he says, noting that the agency has far greater resources for adequately addressing such cases. 
 
 Austin and Perry remain listed in the National Database for Missing and Exploited Children and investigators say they’ll continue to investigate any new leads. 
 
 Meanwhile, both families operate foundations that carry their sons’ names and focus on water safety education and legislation. The Perry J. Cohen Wetlands Laboratory, an outdoor classroom concept, is planned for Jupiter Community High School, where Perry would have graduated in 2019.
– A month ago, Lamar Austin was hired by a security company for a 90-day trial period that involved him being on call 24/7. On New Year's Day, Austin's son was born. Austin, who had already had to miss one shift offered to him due to a doctor's appointment for his wife, ended up missing shifts on Friday and Saturday. Son Cainan was born Sunday, and at 1am that day, Austin got a text notifying him he'd been terminated from Salerno Protective Services. Austin's story made headlines, especially due to the fact that Cainan was the first baby born in Concord, NH, in 2017. "If I have to choose between work and family, I’m always going to pick my family," Austin told the Monitor shortly after his son's birth. Since then, people have been stepping up to help Austin, a 30-year-old military veteran and father of four, big-time. He's gotten offers for at least three jobs, plus money raised for him on a GoFundMe page set up by a mother who was upset by what happened to Austin—even though, as experts explain to the Concord Monitor, it's perfectly legal in an "at-will" employment state such as New Hampshire. In a statement reported by WCVB, Anthony Salerno Jr. cited confidentiality in not commenting on the particulars of the situation, but did say "SPS is not in the practice of releasing employees for reasons stated in the article published in the monitor [sic] but must be cognizant of the product we give our clients!" But there's no bad blood, Austin tells the Monitor. "[Salerno] had his company, which is like his baby, and I had my baby ... Naturally, he’s going to pick his baby over my baby. I can't blame him for that." (This waitress lost her job for firing a shot at robbers.)