Question

Amanda Perry, a 41-year-old medical biller, was working at Covenant's Visiting Nursing Association Department for several years before being promoted to office coordinator of two physicians' offices in 2012. Perry, who had a history of psychiatric illness, suffered from worsening psychiatric symptoms and requested a leave of absence between July 25 and October 6, 2014. Perry's supervisor allegedly expressed concerns about the amount of time she was taking off from work and told her “to get it together.” On her return to work, Perry was reassigned and, a few weeks later, she received a “step I” discipline for behavioral and performance issues. She subsequently received a “step III” discipline for unprofessional conduct and for crying in front of a patient. Perry was effectively fired when she received a “step IV” discipline for allegedly asking a coworker to provide a false statement. Although the healthcare organization claimed she was fired for the issues identified in the disciplinary warnings, Perry said she was terminated because she requested time off and because of her disability. Perry sued, and the federal jury awarded more than $500,000 to her for violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Disabilities Civil Rights Act. What are the conditions that would allow an employee to take FMLA leave? To protect both the employee and employer in this case, what information should be included in an employee handbook? Could this employee be terminated if she worked in a state with employment-at-will laws?

Answer 1

Some of the conditions which will allow an employee to take FMLA leave are

• Pregnancy
• In case of a continuous active treatment for about or more than 3 days
• Treatment for any chronic condition and rest required for months
• To take care of spouce,parents,children when they are physically or mentally ill and need care
• In case of adopting a child
• Fir multiple treatment
• Prenatal care
• In case of marriage

The employee book is as also called as Employee handbook , Employee manual.The following information has to be included in the book to protect both the employee and the employers are

• Types of leave
  • Holidays: government holidays,religious holidays ,sundays
  • Paid off time
  • Personal leave
  • Bereavement leave
  • Policies for parental and medical leave is a must in FMLA which describes when ,and how long the leave can be taken.Extention of leave than the formulated leave period will be a loss of pay .

Employment-at-will laws states that an employee can be terminated, fired from a job at any point of time without even an explanation .Hence this employee can be terminated for her stage IV act.