A clerk working for a police department took seven months off of work with the approval of her employer. Her employer suggested that she fill out paperwork for FMLA leave purposes. Apparently the clerk took the paperwork to her attorney who wrote the following letter back to her employer:
For your information, the [FMLA] does not apply in this case. The FMLA would require the City of Hoisington to allow Ms. Ney to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if she didn’t have any earned sick leave and needed or wanted time off for one of the reasons allowed by the federal law. The FMLA has absolutely nothing to do with Ms. Ney’s situation and the employee has to request the time off through the Act, which Ms. Ney did not do and didn’t need to do. Ms. Ney is taking sick leave through her accumulated sick leave she earned as a job benefit from 16 years of service to the City of Hoisington. Ms. Ney chose to use her paid sick leave and accrued vacation and not take time off pursuant to the FMLA; therefore, the Act
does not apply.
In the letter, the lawyer emphatically indicated that the FMLA Act did not apply. It appears that this was erroneously done for fear of Ms. Ney losing
her paid sick leave. Later, the clerk was terminated and claimed FMLA retaliation despite her attorney’s earlier protests that the FMLA did not apply.
How did it all turn out? Subscribe to our monthly newsletter coming out March 3 to find out.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
You Should Also Check Out This Post:
- FMLA Law News Update March 12, 2010
- FMLA Law News Update - March 11, 2010
- FMLA Law News Update - March 5, 2010
- FMLA Law News Update Mar. 3, 2010
- FMLA Law News Update Mar. 2, 2010
