Whether a serious injury occurs on or off the job to you or your family member, your work schedule could be interrupted. If you are absent from work due to serious health conditions or you need to be absent to care for a family member, you might be worried about how your employer will react to your absence. You may, however, be protected from losing your job under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The FMLA applies to all private employers, including non-profit organizations, with 50 or more employees.
You are eligible for FMLA time off (leave) if all of the following apply:
You work for a covered employer (employers with 50 or more employees are covered by the FMLA)
You have worked for this employer for at least 12 months or 52 weeks (the period does not need to be consecutive)
You have worked at least 1250 hours over the prior 12 months
You work at a location where 50 or more workers are employed, or where the number of workers within 75 miles is 50 or more.
If you are eligible for FMLA leave it will be for certain covered reasons and specified times. It is important to know the protection afforded to you under FMLA. Court decisions have added to employee rights under the FMLA. First, an employer who deters an employee from participating in protected activities constitutes an interference of the employee’s exercise of his or her rights. Interference includes discouraging an employee from using FMLA leave and manipulation by a covered employee to avoid responsibilities under FMLA and is possible ground for employer liability. Second, two conditions that alone do not constitute a serious health condition can together rise to that level where they are temporarily linked and affect the same organ system, substantiating FMLA leave in some cases.
This year, Coleman v. Maryland Court of Appeals, a decision from the Supreme Court, limited the rights of government employees. All public employers, including federal, state, city, and local agencies and schools are entitled to leave under the FMLA, but it does not allow lawsuits against states by their employees when the suit deals with the “self-care” provisions of the FMLA. Earlier this year in Maryland, an employee requested FMLA leave as a result of his own alleged serious health condition. Instead of getting leave, he was fired from his job at the Maryland Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court of the United States decided that because his employer was a state entity, the employee was not entitled to self-care leave under the FMLA and could not sue his employer for monetary damages. Other forms of FMLA leave, such as caring for a family member still remain protected for local government and state employees.
In order to trigger FMLA protections, you must meet the notification requirement by communicating to your supervisor or employer the reason you will be absent from work. The FMLA provides job security for you when you need to care for a family member’s serious health condition, to care for a newborn or during placement of an adopted or foster child. If you or a family member have been injured and you are unable to return to work immediately, call me to discuss your legal rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act.