2 replies to this topic

[stephen83]

A friend of mine is on intermittens fmla because her 3 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia back in May of 2012. She is also pregnant with the due date being Feb.14,2013. We have short term disability so that will cover the pregnancy. We live in the state of Illinois. Her son has to have a procedure done which she wants to have done before she has the baby so because it is a new year she has 90 hours of vacation. She put in for her vacation so she could do this but the company told her she was on intermittens fmla so she can't use her so she can't use her vacation. Our question is can the company do this? Also is this considered 2 different fmlas'? One for intermittens fmla and 1 for her pregnancy. Thank you for your time.

[Fallen]

Your friend may want to file a complaint with the IL human rights commission (its equivalent of EEOC) or its Dept. of Labor, as well as the federal DOL. The employer isn't entitled to dictate what type of earned leave she may use to cover pay for FMLA time. (As for the possible notion that she's earned ALL of 90 hours at the beginning of a year -- what I presume you're saying -- I suspect in fact while the employer may "bank" 90 hours at the beginning of a year on presumption someone will be employed for the coming year, she doesn't in fact earn it all in one fell swoop. Would be a very odd employer whose leave policy doesn't make the actual earning of it incremental (say, a day a month or whatever).

Not clear what you mean by "Also is this considered 2 different fmlas'?" FMLA is FMLA, regardless of the why even if it's multiple reasons. (We cannot know if, when or as to which she might use up her 12 weeks' worth of time in a 12-month period, but anything related to time off for the son's health issues can't help but eat away at whatever she'll be able to take off due to pregnancy and post-birth and not give the employer an "out" if it wants to get rid of her because she's run out of FMLA time.)

As for "short term disability" program/policy, that simply speaks to what may cover part of her pay while she's out. Not relevant as it relates to FMLA law.

[FindLaw_AHK]

To learn more about your rights as an employee, you may visit the Employment Law Center as a good resource. Also, your friend may want to consider signing up for a legal plan on LegalStreet. For less than $13 a month, your friend can ask a local employment lawyer all the legal questions to address this matter.