On March 28, 2008, my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer. I applied and was approved for iFMLA so that I could periodically take off work to carry him for his future appointment. Even so, while on iFMLA, I would make up hours I missed even though I was still technically in FMLA status, so I was able to better keep upper with how many actual hours/days/weeks of FMLA I had used.
On May 28, 2008, I was diagnosed with non-small cell lung carcinoma. I procedure and asked for leave of absence, which would ultimately lead to FMLA. I was approved for LOA and FMLA (I am not sure at this time how much FMLA I had accued at that time). In any case, I did not have the full 12 weeks available to me, so I was put in employee LOA for the remainder of my treatments which consisted of 37 radiation and 13 chemotherapy treatments. I was declared in September 2008 and returned to work on November 10, 2008.
I was only able to take on part-time work as the chemotherapy had caused neuropathy in my hands, essentially keeping me from making production.
On December 22, 2008, I received the following email:
<(EE) does recognize that you have an ongoing medical condition which may require time away from work, (EE) will be unable to approve any leaves of absences, due to the excessive amount of leaves of absence you have taken during your employment with (EE)f. Please see below the leaves of absence you have had during your employment with (EE).
You will not be approved to miss any more time from work that you do not have PTO to cover. In the event that you do end up missing additional time prior to having PTO to cover your time off work or you become eligible for FMLA, (EE) reserves the right to terminate your employment for excessive absenteeism. You will be eligible for a medical leave of absence once you have completed 6 months of continuous employment with (EE). Therefore starting June 10, 2009.
Please understand that an excessive number of leaves of absence create a hardship for the staffing purposes of your department. We truly hope that you can get back on track to productive employment.>
I have had to take quite a bit of FMLA for my husband and daughter's illnesses, but I never took 12 weeks at a time, not even 2 weeks at a time, and I always made up some of my time as this was allowed with the company I was employed with.
Essentially, I was told I could not be sick until June of 2009, that I could not take off work for any reason, even if I had a doctor note, that if I did their "production" would go down and I would be at fault for it doing so; the fact patient the matter is, work was low most times when I was on the clock, so work would not have to be "rushed" to get it out on time. I am a medical transcriptionist by trade.
On March 23, 2009, I was having the symptoms of a stroke. I had my husband carry me to our local ER, a CT scan was undertaken and I was found to have a tumor on my left temporal lobe. I was set up with a stat MRI with contrast the next morning and to see my medical oncologist. The MRI found 2 tumors, my cancer had metastasized to my brain. I had to fill out LOA paperwork and set up FMLA paperwork for later use. My medical oncologist faxed a note to my employer saying I was under his care and the was unknown when/if I would be returning to work.
I underwent gamma knife radiation on Thursday, April 2, 2009 for the removal of the tumors. I am facing seizures, speech difficulties, and neuropathy as a side effect of this.
I found out on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, that my LOA request was denied and I had been terminated from my job due to "excessive absenteeism". I find that I was terminated for that quite a coincidence when it coincides with my diagnosis of brain metastases.
What recourse do I have, if any, here?
On May 28, 2008, I was diagnosed with non-small cell lung carcinoma. I procedure and asked for leave of absence, which would ultimately lead to FMLA. I was approved for LOA and FMLA (I am not sure at this time how much FMLA I had accued at that time). In any case, I did not have the full 12 weeks available to me, so I was put in employee LOA for the remainder of my treatments which consisted of 37 radiation and 13 chemotherapy treatments. I was declared in September 2008 and returned to work on November 10, 2008.
I was only able to take on part-time work as the chemotherapy had caused neuropathy in my hands, essentially keeping me from making production.
On December 22, 2008, I received the following email:
<(EE) does recognize that you have an ongoing medical condition which may require time away from work, (EE) will be unable to approve any leaves of absences, due to the excessive amount of leaves of absence you have taken during your employment with (EE)f. Please see below the leaves of absence you have had during your employment with (EE).
You will not be approved to miss any more time from work that you do not have PTO to cover. In the event that you do end up missing additional time prior to having PTO to cover your time off work or you become eligible for FMLA, (EE) reserves the right to terminate your employment for excessive absenteeism. You will be eligible for a medical leave of absence once you have completed 6 months of continuous employment with (EE). Therefore starting June 10, 2009.
Please understand that an excessive number of leaves of absence create a hardship for the staffing purposes of your department. We truly hope that you can get back on track to productive employment.>
I have had to take quite a bit of FMLA for my husband and daughter's illnesses, but I never took 12 weeks at a time, not even 2 weeks at a time, and I always made up some of my time as this was allowed with the company I was employed with.
Essentially, I was told I could not be sick until June of 2009, that I could not take off work for any reason, even if I had a doctor note, that if I did their "production" would go down and I would be at fault for it doing so; the fact patient the matter is, work was low most times when I was on the clock, so work would not have to be "rushed" to get it out on time. I am a medical transcriptionist by trade.
On March 23, 2009, I was having the symptoms of a stroke. I had my husband carry me to our local ER, a CT scan was undertaken and I was found to have a tumor on my left temporal lobe. I was set up with a stat MRI with contrast the next morning and to see my medical oncologist. The MRI found 2 tumors, my cancer had metastasized to my brain. I had to fill out LOA paperwork and set up FMLA paperwork for later use. My medical oncologist faxed a note to my employer saying I was under his care and the was unknown when/if I would be returning to work.
I underwent gamma knife radiation on Thursday, April 2, 2009 for the removal of the tumors. I am facing seizures, speech difficulties, and neuropathy as a side effect of this.
I found out on Wednesday, April 1, 2009, that my LOA request was denied and I had been terminated from my job due to "excessive absenteeism". I find that I was terminated for that quite a coincidence when it coincides with my diagnosis of brain metastases.
What recourse do I have, if any, here?
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