Fired before you took a Medical Leave of Absence? Is that Discrimination?
Were you let go before your medical leave was approved? How long have you worked there? How many employees does your company employ here in California?
FMLA, or Family Medical Leave Act, was written to protect employees’ jobs for up to 12 weeks a year should they or an immediate family member become ill or need medical assistance. According to the Department of Labor:
“Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.”
You have worked at the company for 10 months and there are over 50 employees at your location.
You let your HR know that you have a surgery coming up and that you will need to apply for FMLA, and then before your leave was approved you were let go. This might be considered a wrongful termination under a violation of FMLA. The key question is: when were you planning on taking time off? Would you have been there a year by the time your surgery was scheduled? If so, this is likely a wrongful termination and you should contact a California labor law attorney to further examine your case.
The courts are very concerned with this issue and in recent opinions it has been explained that because FMLA requires the employee to give advanced notice it would be unfair to use this notice as a trap to allow employers to let an employee go prior to his leave, even if the employee is technically not eligible at the time of submitting the request.
Labor law is complex; if you have any questions regarding your employment it is recommended that you contact a California labor law attorney who can help you understand your rights and in many cases will review your situation without charge.
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