The Roper Law Firm

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides that eligible employees up are entitled up to 12 unpaid weeks off from work when they are unable to work due to serious illness, immediately following the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.

The U.S. Department of Labor has determined an individual is eligible for family medical leave if they:

  • Your employer employs 50 or more people;
  • The have been employed for at least 12 months;
  • They have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the start of the leave;
  • They are employed at a work site where 50 or more employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles of that work site.

Employees who are eligible for family and medical leave have legal rights which protect them from being denied family and medical leave, or being subjected to any retaliation for taking entitled family and medical leave.

The 12 months of employment do not have to be consecutive. That means any time previously worked for the same employer (including seasonal work) could, in most cases, be used to meet the 12-month requirement. If the employee has a break in service that lasted seven years or more, the time worked prior to the break will not count unless the break is due to service covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), or there is a written agreement

It is important to note that it is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against you for filing a Family and Medical Leave Act Violation case against them. For information about unlawful employment retaliation, please click here.

Common workplace retaliation scenarios often include demotion, being fired, suffer loss of salary levels upon return to work, retaliatory discipline, or other types of employer retaliation. The employer may sometimes attempt to terminate the employee based on an employee performance review that does not accurately reflect the employee's work performance.

In employment law cases, including Family and Medical Leave Act cases, if you are successful in your claim, Federal Law provides that your employer may be ordered to pay your attorney fees and court costs.