FMLA
Posted By: elizabeth on 2007-07-26
In Reply to: Looking for feedback - siren
I had an experience with a co-worker who was doing the off-and-on thing with FMLA, and when a group of us went to the administrator to complain about having to carry her workload, we were informed that this person was following all the FMLA rules, so they could not do anything about it.
Employers do not really care WHY you can't work; they just care about the bottom line. Focusing on another employee is a lot of wasted energy, and you need to consider your health first. Find out exactly how many hours you need to work per week to qualify for insurance coverage, and work just those hours and no more until you're fully healed.
In other words, don't concern yourself with what others are doing or not doing. You need to focus on what you need to do to get well.
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FMLA
Actually, this is a federal law. However, you MUST meet the criteria. Pregnancy does not qualify; however, delivery does. The company MUST employ at least 50 people located within a 200-mile radius. Otherwise, the company does not have to offer you anything, since it's considered a hardship for the company to lose a significant portion of its workforce for a significant portion of time.
Imagine you were trying to run a company of 10 people. You lose 10% of your workforce for 25% of the year. That's a significant blow to your productivity. So smaller companies are exempt. Considering they employ the majority of the workforce, it's probably a good thing.
Also, the company does not have to PAY you for the time you are off if the rest of the criteria are met. If the company offers STD, you would most likely qualify under for that sort of income protection. However, the company can also mandate that you use all accummulated sick time first for the first five days of the leave. Since you only qualify for twelve weeks of leave, the company may also mandate that you use any vacation time up during that leave, too, since it's a benefit.
You may want to read the FMLA laws at the Department of Labor website. The laws in your state may also differ slightly, as well, so it might be worth checking out the state DOL website, too. However, the longer you plan on taking the time off without telling them so they can plan accordingly, the more likely they are to have a good and legal reason NOT to protect your job if they feel you have dealt with them in good faith.
As I undertand it FMLA does not allow you to take
time off a day here and a day there, but even if your co-worker is able to and hasn't used it up I don't see what the problem is. You used yours up and then didn't work enough to qualify for insurance. She still has FMLA, and is working full-time with the FMLA added in, which qualifies her for insurance. If she is protected by FMLA I can't see how you are being treated unfairly. If she isn't carrying her share of the load talk to your supervisor.
abusing FMLA
FMLA can definitely be abused - you want a day off but don't want to be docked for it - tell your doctor you need 3 days off instead of the one day you are at the doctor, he says okay, and therefore the 3 days count as one occurrence even though you are out for 3 days. I have a friend that does it all the time - we want to go out of town, she goes to the doctor for a headache or something silly but tells him she needs 3 days off. That is not fair to other people in the office who are having to cover the work on a consistent basis for the one person who is abusing it!
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