Human Resource Blog

FMLA

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I work at a company in Ohio. If you are pregnant and almost have your time in to collect insurance through the company, can they fire you and tell you once you have had your baby they will rehire you? Another guy almost had his time in also, and had a massive heartattack. They told him that they are letting him go, but once he was able to get around they would hire him back too. (He was well and they did hire him back.) Another girl had FMLA for her rhumatoid arthritis, but left with 3 other people from work to go out of state for a job at the new factory they had built. Got into a car accident, had a meeting to ask her to settle. She declined due to her back injuries (herniated disks and bulging disks from the accident.) It was time for her to sign her papers for her FMLA she has already had previously and wanted to add her back injuries onto it. They did not allow her to carry over her FMLA into the new year (or time allowed to file her paperwork with her doctor) and fired her. Is this legal? Can a company let employees go so they do not have to pay insurance for them, but promise to re-hire them ….and do so? My friend who lost her job over the accident with the company is in horrible pain. She cannot even stand up straight. Her arthritis is bad. She cannot even get medications that she needs. Any information you can give me about this would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and I pulled my tendon and muscle in my right hand. I was getting workers comp and therapy for this injury that occured at my job. They told me that they felt I was milking my injury and to go back to my doctor and get a release form to return to regular duty or I would lose my job. Till this day (which the injury was about 2 years ago) my hand cramps up and swells. What adivice or information can you give me?

This might be a case of discrimination under ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act.  It certainly appears as if the employer has a practice of firing employees who are disabled to keep insurance costs low. The best way to get a reading on these particular situations is to contact the EEOC, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Be aware that the EEOC definition of “disability” is fairly strict, and rules out many common ailments.

The company may also be violating the PDA, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which forbids employers from taking negative employment actions against workers simply because they are pregnant – for example, forcing an otherwise healthy pregnant woman to go on leave, when she has her doctor’s permission to work. The problem here is that under the PDA, pregnant women must be treated the same way as other employees with a temporary disability – and this company treats workers with a temporary disability very poorly.

The US Department of Labor, Wage & Hour Division enforces the FMLA law, although it may be too late for your friend to file a complaint. As far as the employer telling the worker that she is “milking” a work-related injury and must get a release from her doctor to work or face termination – that’s just not right. If the injury is genuinely work related, and the employee is genuinely unable to work, they cannot be terminated for collecting on a worker’s comp claim. Any employee who was wrongfully terminated under these circumstances would be entitled to file a lawsuit against the company. (However, companies will often make such threats because if the employee was “milking” an injury, it would encourage them to return to work.)