Should I have qualified for FMLA

About a month ago, I was in the hospital for 24 hours and then had a few more off due to a life threatening condition. It was an emergency situation where I went to my primary physician feeling ill and after a few tests he had me in a hospital bed within a couple hours. I have more testing coming up this month for the issue and a surgery scheduled for next month.

My employer is a more complicated situation - I have been at the same place for over ten years but the location I am at was recently sold. They told us all that we were essentially terminated from one company and hired on at the new one, but they transferred over our vacation hours and let us keep our years with the company.

Our attendance is just handled by a call center, where I called in every day, told them how many days I was out for and that I had been in the hospital. They always ask, is this related to FMLA or a short term disability leave? I said I don't know if I qualify for FMLA since we have been bought and I haven't been with the new company for more than a year. They just transferred me over to our short term disability company to fill out a claim for that, which was of course denied, being only for three days. When I returned, I gave my on-site HR person a copy of my doctor's note stating that I had been in the hospital and when I was allowed to work again. Then I had a sit down with the HR person and let them know the nature of my illness and that I was expecting surgery. I never heard any more about it, and was told for my surgery to just file for short term disability. Never heard anything at all about FMLA or what my rights were regarding it.

The other day I learned about something in FMLA law called a "successor in interest." (29 CFR § 825.107) I'm thinking that since my job is entirely the same and the company owning the place is all that has changed, this situation is covered and I should still have FMLA benefits. But it's been a month now, and I'm not sure if I lose any right to FMLA coverage since I didn't personally request it, and they never sent me any information about my rights to coverage or any sort of medical certification.

My questions are, should I still qualify for FMLA, should this have qualified for FMLA, and what next steps should I take?

Thank you.

 

Well, actually the main reason I bring it up is because we have a point based attendance policy and I want to know that I'm protected in the future from pointing out for this and any future absences related to the surgery. I have plenty of savings to cover the missed pay. The points are few and last for a year, and the recovery process may not be easy.