California Labor Law Attorneys Fight Wrongful Termination while out on Disability or Medical Leave
California labor law attorneys have been noticing a trend in
terminations during medical leaves of absence. Often times the cause for termination is the employee’s failure to return to work within the time period allowed by the company. Employers usually set a policy that specifies that employment will terminate if an employee fails to come back from
a medical leave of absence within a given period of time. Usually, those periods appear to be munificent, sometimes as long as a year. Companies reason that the employee took advantage of the full FMLA benefits and thus the employee lacks statutory job protection. By the time the leave has expired, the employee may have exhausted workers’ compensation leave benefits. Employers sometime set the time limit to correspond with the commencement of long-term disability benefits, if they are available. Despite the seemingly long period of time, the employer must still recon with the ADA and its state and local equivalents.
California labor law attorneys and the EEOC has been insistently pursuing companies that implement rigid medical leave policies, despite of the length of the leave or whether medical leaves are treated in the same manner as other non-medical leaves.
California labor law attorneys and the EEOC have taken the position that the ADA requires companies to offer a reasonable accommodation to employees with disabilities and reasonable accommodation must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Because the courts have recognized that granting a leave of absence could be a reasonable accommodation, the company must engage in the interactive process, including taking into account requests for an extension of the leave or returning to work with an accommodation. The employer may then evaluate whether the requested accommodation imposes an undue hardship. The EEOC contends that inflexible leave policies ignore the obligation to make reasonable accommodations on a case-by-case basis.
Instead of sustaining a rigid medical leave policy, employers should consider:
• Institute a flexible or target end dates for medical leave.
• Inform employees within a reasonable period of time prior to the end date of the leave period that the leave is going to expire.
• Appraise whether the employee’s request for accommodation is reasonable and whether it can be granted without an undue burden.
• Questioning if the employee needs additional time off and, if so, how long. The employer may want the employee to provide a statement from a physician supporting the need for additional leave and the amount of additional time off required.
If you have been terminated while out on medical leave or for failure to return according to company policy and you feel it was unreasonable given your circumstances please contact an experience California labor law attorney to examine your case.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Vlad Teodor