Your Days Are Numbered: Beware Disciplining Employees So Soon After FMLA Requests
When it comes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), courts always pull out their stopwatches and calendars to see how closely the employee’s protected activity (requesting or taking FMLA leave) coincides with the adverse action (discipline or firing). As this new court ruling shows, the smaller the time, the bigger your risk of liability …
Case in Point: Lori worked as a pediatric pharmacist at the University of Maryland. During one of her shifts, she experienced increased back pain related to her degenerative disk disease. She tried to contact her supervisor by phone, texts and pager but to no avail. Eventually, she asked another pharmacist to monitor her station while she ran home to get her medication. (Leaving her station without approval was a violation of the employer’s policy.)
Filed under: General Problems
Have the MD write up a written intermittent FMLA order…there there is a form to do this and file with HR. It will deduct from the 12week total but at least you are protected fro their P&P. My husband uses it for infrequent flare ups and doesnt accumulate attendance points. Company was not happy but it is his right!
Employers have so many ways of getting around the FMLA… Anyone who has returned to work after taking leave under the FMLA can tell you how easy it is for an employer to return that worker not to the same or a comparable job, but to one that forces employees to quit. A crappy job, along with a hostile work place, usually means the employee is forced to find another job. The FMLA helps some workers, but I think it helps employers more.