Possible FMLA violation

[bkhamilt8216]

I started working for this company is May of 2004. In October 2005 my husband and I welcomed our first son who seemed to come with a whole laundry list of medical issues. Throughout his first year of life my attendance got a little rocky as I needed to take time off to care for my child. I was placed on "attendance probation" and eventually ended up leaving the company to care for my son in Oct 2006. My son was eventually diagnosed with Autism, as well as (PVL) Periventricular Leukomalcia And so I needed to return to work to afford his medical care. I spoke with this same employer about what was going on and was able to resume my positon. I continued to have attendance occurences dealing with his illness and eventually was given a written warning. It was at this time that my childs DOCTOR not my employer informed of my rights under FMLA. In July 2009 I was approved for FMLA. So here is where I'm wondering if my rights were violated- by accident i noticed on my HR website that my employee status has been changed from FULL TIME to PART TIME. When i questioned my supervisor about the change he said he didnt know anything about it. So the following day I contacted HR to see what was going on and was advised 1st that my FMLA certification was up even though my doctor wrote on the certification that this will be a life long battle for him but I guess they have a 90 day recertification requirement which I was never made aware of nor was it on any of the paperwork i completed to be on FMLA. My FMLA certification was up on 9-21-09. I have missed several days between 9-21 and today and am being penialized because there was no FMLA in effect- This is coming from the manager of my department. When I spoke with the HR person who coordinated my FMLA she advised me that she is still "researching" everything but she did go ahead and tell my Supv. that my FMLA is still in effect?? So now she is making an exception. I thought the rule was 90 days?? This is after i mentioned going to the labor board. She knows she dropped the ball. However my job is still in limbo and my department is unwilling to go back on the status change. If according to HR i am still on FMLA then why am I being punished for taking FMLA time?? If your are able to help at all I would really appreciate it!

 

[jacksgal]

FMLA is for 12 weeks if you exceeded that its over

 

[Patricia_Young]

If the employer chooses to allow additional absences to be discounted they may, but once the 12 weeks allowed for the year is exhausted, it's exhausted and that's it under the law. Any forebearance given after 9/21/09 is strictly up to the employer and your job is NOT legally protected.

 

[theretoo]

I think that the original poster is commenting about the FMLA recertification process. The OP may need to chime in here to comment:

The OP has a child with a disability, or several, as do I. I believe that what the OP is talking about is that she had turned in the FMLA paperwork and that she has not used up the 12 weeks of FMLA, however, her employer requested a medical recertification after 90 days, to confirm that a "serious health condition" still exists.

The child is permanently disabled.

I believe FMLA law states that an employer may request recertification every 30 days. I also have a child with a lifelong disability and I was also requested to provide recertification at 30 days, when I had requested FMLA for an injury that my child had sustained that created what could have been potentially severe health issues. I don't see the need to continually request FMLA or have to recertify for a child that has a documented lifelong disability. I told ya' once and the doc proved it, don't keep asking me for the same medical info over and over and over again.

My suggestion to the OP is to ask HR to please look into ADA parental protection for caring for a child with a disability, as well as the protection that FMLA provides.

I believe that the OP is asking about FMLA protection when the employer has requested recertification. The employer has not denied FMLA, so the manager has no right to write up the employee for "attendance" issues when the question was about recertificaiton, not denial of FMLA, and HR has stated that FMLA remains in effect while HR researches the the situation. Obviously, HR and management don't communicate very well. HR should tell the manager to eliminate the corrective action write ups and to stop threatening the employee with her job.

http://www.stepnowskilaw.com/ADA-Parents.html

To the OP, There a lot of folks who will post on this board as an expert from HR or legal, etc. But unless they walk in your shoes, they have absolutely no CLUE what your protections are, and would prefer to "get rid of the problem" rather than to do the "right thing" to help the employee out.

Manager says, "She ain't here...oh, write her up for "attendance". Illegal. The use of FMLA cannot be used against an employee for "attendance" purposes. Nor can any time an employee uses that is ADA protected.

Don't blame the employee when neither HR or management understand what to do. That is how good employees become a burden on state tax payers because those in a position to "know better" as employers would rather get rid of the employee than to learn the right way to do things or to ask questions.