Human Resource Blog

Kentucky FMLA and Termination

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

	Termination
Employee Warning Notice Employee Final Warning Notice Employee Resignation Form Exit Interview Questionnaire Separation Checklist

If an employee who works for a union has exhausted his or her leave under FMLA, can the employee be terminated?

If you use up your FMLA leave and cannot return to your job, your employer is within her or his legal rights to terminate you. It applies nationwide as well as Kentucky, and whether your employer is a union or a business.

That’s assuming “working for a union” means that the union is the employer and you are working for it as its employee. If the question means “working under a union contract,” then it’s best to check your contract or talk to your union official.

It may not sound fair that workers could lose a job because of an illness. But before the FMLA, instituted in 1993, workers could be terminated even after a couple of weeks off the job due to illness. The employer cannot be expected to hold a job open indefinitely with the expectation that the worker may return someday in the future.

The FMLA, or Family and Medical Leave Act, guarantees 12 weeks of job-protected leave, unpaid, if a worker is seriously ill. The leave may also be used to care for a child, parent, or spouse who is gravely ill. It is perfectly legal to use the time to care for a newborn or to bond with a new foster child or newly adopted child.

Once the 12 weeks are used up, however, the worker must return to the job or face the possibility of termination. Some companies have instituted policies of rehiring former workers if an opening develops. While federal law does not require it, it’s a useful option.

Very few states offer leave plans more generous than 12 weeks. If you want further information, contact us with a specific state and we’ll get an answer for you.

The system does allow for some exceptions. For example, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), a worker with a disability who could return if reasonable accommodations were made would be entitled to those accommodations. And if a company offers leave extensions to one employee, it must offer such extensions to all who request it. JH