Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected time for specific family and medical reasons.
Qualified employees have access to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA time.
Employers are required to maintain employee’s coverage for health insurance during FMLA leave.
Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who take action to enforce their FMLA rights, or assist in an investigation into a FMLA violation.
Specific examples of FMLA violations by employers:
- YOUR EMPLOYER REQUIRES YOU TO GIVE A LARGE PART OF THE NOTICE:
The FMLA requires that employers give 30 days notice to you if you are required to take leave for foreseeable reasons.
You must give notice as soon possible if it is not pre-arranged. Employers sometimes violate the 30-day rule and require employees to give notice that is longer than 30 days.
They also use the 30-day rule for emergency FMLA leave denial, even though it was not reasonably possible.
- YOUR EMPLOYER DON’T RECEIVE YOUR REQUEST:
FMLA does not require that you use the term “FMLA”, when requesting FMLA leaves. Employers should be able to review your request and determine how to categorize your FMLA leave based upon the circumstances.
Employers may also violate FMLA by implying that you haven’t made the right FMLA request.
- YOUR EMPLOYER DELAYS OR DENIES YOUR REQUEST:
Your employer might request that you schedule FMLA leave for times that aren’t disruptive to your job.
However, if your doctor tells you that you will need treatment within a week of your diagnosis, your employer should not request that you delay treatment.
- EMPLOYER REQUIRES THAT YOU WORK WHEN ON LEAVE:
Your employer shouldn’t ask you to work remotely or require you to be available for FMLA leave while you are on it, even if you only have an hour per week.
Emergencies can make it hard for you to perform your normal duties. Employees who are fired because of “performance issues” during a leave period often go to court. Juries frequently find FMLA violations by employers.
- YOUR EMPLOYER RETRAINS FOR FMLA LEAVE OR DISCIPLINES:
FMLA leave is not grounds for dismissal. Your employer might discipline you for missing FMLA leave.
Employers may also violate FMLA by causing verbal abuses or indicating that your leave is a mark against them when you are seeking promotion.
- INTERRMITTENT LEAVE IS DIFFICULT FOR YOUR EMPLOYER:
The FMLA allows you to take leave in one lump sum or “intermittent leave” which reduces the hours and days you work each week.
If your employer degrades you or assigns you more work than you can do within the specified hours, you have violated your FMLA rights and you should contact a lawyer immediately.
- EMPLOYER CAN’T REINSTATE PERSONS AT THEIR PREVIOUS LEVEL:
Your employer must restore your job or assign you an equivalent job when you return to work following a leave of absence under the FMLA.
All aspects, including job duties, location and benefits, as well as pay, must be identical or equivalent to before you leave.
Summarized from an article by Ottinger Employment Lawyers.
