O.K I am bit confused, you are saying that you worked in a state civil service position, and now the state has contracted the work and employees to a private concern? You mentioned a merger, private corporations merge, I have not heard of state controlled entity merging with private enterprise.
I doubt you can not count unscheduled work against FML. FMLA is a remedial statute that must be broadly construed to effectuate its humanitarian purpose. And the purpose of the FMLA is "to entitle employees to take reasonable leave for medical reasons," and to help working men and women "balance...
Run this by an attorney if your entitled to a counter offer. He may take the case to get a better offer. Or he may not, but he may suggest a reasonable counter offer.
Thats an interesting question. Is there a way to put your direct supervisor (at the time) name on for reference purposes? That way the personnel dept could at least vouch that the your supervisor was employed there. Also could you use your direct supervisor (at the time's name). You could...