Job Termination Due To Family Medical Leave

A job termination due to the taking of Family Medical Leave, or a failure grant an employee Family Medical Leave is especially stressful and inopportune given the employee’s serious medical problems necessitating Family Medical Leave, or the serious medical problems of the person the employee must take Family Medical Leave to care for. We would welcome the opportunity to represent you in a legal case if you were terminated from your job for taking Family Medical Leave, or your employer failed to reinstate you after you took Family Medical Leave. Call 1-877-525-0700 to speak to our Family Medical Leave Act lawyers.

The California Family Rights Leave Act (CFRA) and the Federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are very similar.

Major differences between the California Family Rights Leave Act and Family Medical Leave Act are:

1. Emotional distress can be recovered under the California version of the Family Medical Leave Act, but not the Federal Family Medical Leave Act.
2. For the California Family Rights Leave Act an employee must first file administrative charges with the Department of Fair Housing and Employment (DFEH), but filing with the federal equivalent, the EEOC is not required under the Federal Family Medical Leave Act.
3. The period of time in which to pursue a Federal Family Medical Leave case is longer than the period of time in which to pursue a California Family Rights Leave case

Legal matters involving job terminations because of Family Medical Leave Act issues often occur when:

1. The employer fails to reinstate the employee to their job after they took Family Medical Leave
2. The employer claims it was legally justified in firing the employee because the employee exhausted the amount of time allowed off under the Family Medical Leave Act, but the employee’s medical condition qualified as a disability, or they were entitled to more than twelve weeks off because their absence was wholly or partially due to their pregnancy
3. The employer gave the employee’s job away at some point when the employee was off on Family Medical Leave
4. The employer tires of intermittent Family Medical Leave absences and fires the Employee
5. The employer finds it convenient to layoff employees whom are on a medical leave, including Family Medical Leave

What Employees Are Eligible For Family Medical Leave?

Once again, the California version of the Federal Family Medical Leave Act is called the California Family Leave Rights Act and abbreviated, “CFRA.” For further research on the CFRA, see California Government Code Section 12945.2.

Both the Federal Family Medical Leave Act, abbreviated, “FMLA” and the California Act apply to:

1. Employees whom have worked for their employer more than 1,250 hours during the last twelve months
2. Employees whom are employed by employers with 50 or more employees
3. Employees not in the top 10% of the wage earners at the employer
4. The employee is absent due to a serious medical condition
5. The employee takes less than twelve weeks of leave during a calendar year

All of the above prerequisites for CFRA/FMLA can be waived by the employer. There are some employers of less than fifty employees whom provide CFRA/FMLA coverage to their employees. There are also some employers whom allow employees to take more than twelve weeks for CFRA/FMLA leave and/or they include baby bonding in their CFRA/FMLA coverage. Certainly, an employee should not count on any of these rare exceptions being made to what the California Family Rights Leave Act or Family Medical Leave Act covers.

Common issues that arise in CFRA/FMLA cases:

1. The legitimacy of employers requiring recertifications for medical conditions entitling employees to CFRA/FMLA leave
2. The legitimacy of the employer asking for second opinions about treatments, causes, and probable durations of CFRA/FMLA leaves
3. Employers claiming they never received oral or written notice of the employee’s need for a leave qualifying as CFRA/FMLA leave
4. Whether the employee must provide reasonable notice of the CFRA/FMLA leave
5. Absences to provide mere moral support to seriously ill family members, but not take care of them
6. Whether an employer forcing an employee to take vacation pay or PTO pay opposed to formally making a request for CFRA/FMLA leave makes a legal difference
7. Employees whom may have a somewhat serious medical conditions, but whom fail to get enough medical treatment to qualify for CFRA/FMLA leave
8. Employees not reinstated to a comparable position at their job after CFRA/FMLA leave

Regardless of the employer’s excuse for your job termination, we would like to speak to you if you feel your CFRA/FMLA rights were violated. Our experience in CFRA/FMLA cases include multiple won binding arbitrations and jury trials in which Family Medical Leave/California Family Rights Leave Act Rights were involved. We have also settled hundreds of cases involving the failure to grant and/or loss of employment due to the exercise of Family Medical Leave/California Family Rights Leaves.

Sample California Family Rights/Family Medical Leave Act Case Results of the Employment Lawyers Group:

1. MYLES V. WELL BINDING ARBITRATION AWARD
2. Win of a binding arbitration involving a job termination due to Family Medical Leave Rights
3. $159,660 settlement in 2014 dollars for failure to allow both FMLA and Pregnancy Leave of a Mission Hills Woman
4. $142,000 settlement in 2014 dollars for a Panorama City saleswoman fired over a CFRA/FMLA leave
5. $112,863 settlement in 2014 dollars for a Wilmington forklift driver fired due to FMLA leave

In Los Angeles County we have offices in downtown Los Angeles, Gardena, and Sherman Oaks. We also have offices in Ontario, Torrance, Tustin, Riverside, San Diego, Oxnard, Bakersfield, San Francisco, and Sacramento. All of our employment cases are handled by firm founder, Karl Gerber, and one of our long term staff attorneys. Call 1-877-525-0700 for a dedicated, experienced Family Medical Leave Act lawyer who will take your case on a contingency.