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Top FMLA Lawyer Answer: Will Taking Medical Leave Affect My Seniority?

On Behalf of | Mar 31, 2014 | Family Medical Leave Claims, Wrongful Termination |

Best Family Medical Leave Lawyer’s Answer: My boss will not count my FMLA leave when determining my length of service, what can I do? Will I continue to gain vacation days since I’m technically not absent? Will I have to use up the vacation days I’ve been saving to take medical leave? How do I find an FMLA Attorney?

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The Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) is a federal law that requires most employers to give covered employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid vacation for personal or family illness and other qualifying circumstances.

Most policies on vacation time allow employees to accrue additional vacation for each day they are employed. When determining an employee’s vacation time, many employers do not consider days where an employee is absent; and the employee will not accrue vacation time for those days. With an FMLA absence, clients often ask our employment lawyers, “I would be at work if only I could. So why should this count against me when determining how much vacation time that get?”

It’s a compelling enough argument, but the FMLA simply does not require employers to keep building an employee’s vacation time while the employee is out on leave. As a result, most employers do not consider FMLA leave when tallying up an employee’s accrued vacation time.

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It’s worthwhile to check with your human resources department and see if your company has a specific policy that addresses vacation time during leave. Most likely, you’ll have to use up any vacation time you have before beginning your FMLA leave, and you will not be able to build any additional vacation time during your leave. Both practices are permissible under the FMLA.

Likewise, your employer is not required to count the time that you spend on FMLA leave toward your length of service, which can impact any seniority rights you might have, such as your eligibility for seniority-based raises and promotions.

Although taking FMLA leave could potentially affect your seniority privileges and vacation time, it may be difficult to know whether your employer is legitimately refusing that promotion or raise, or whether your employer is in fact retaliating against you for taking FMLA leave. Needless to say, it is unlawful for an employer to retaliate against an employee because that employee needs to take or has taken FMLA-covered leave.

If you even think that your employer improperly docked your vacation, denied you a promotion, or took some other negative action against you based on your need for FMLA leave, call the employment attorneys at Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm for a free consultation today. If you feel that you are being denied leave rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or are being retaliated against for taking medical leave, you should call the right attorney as quickly as possible to schedule a free and confidential consultation. The phone number to contact an Ohio attorney for FMLA help is 866-797-6040. While you focus on your family medical needs, let our FLMA attorneys focus on your medical leave rights.

Disclaimer:

The materials available at the top of this medical leave page and on this employment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. If you are still asking, “how do I get medical leave under the FMLA?”, “what should I do when my job won’t give me medical leave?”, “can my boss deny me medical leave?”, “what should I do if I was fired in retaliation for taking FMLA leave… Is it wrongful termination??”, or “is my employer allowed to…?”, your best option is to contact an Ohio medical leave attorney to obtain advice with respect to FMLA questions or any particular employment law issue. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, Brian Spitz, or any individual attorney.