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KristineS
11-28-2008, 02:16 PM
Earlier in the year I had some health issues. I was in the hospital and missed some work. I lost some wages and ended up using up all my vacation.

When it first happened our company HR person told me that FMLA would cover the time I was missing and would take care of the wages and I would not have to use my vacation time. Because of that information I made some choices I might not otherwise have made.

When I got back I was told that the information I had been initially given was wrong. The implication was that it was my responsibility to figure out what the right information was.

I'm just wondering who was in the right on this. I feel like it should have been the company's responsibility to give me the right information. They obviously feel that I should have figured it out for myself.

Does anyone know what the law is on this? Also, how do other companies handle this kind of thing?

seolman
11-28-2008, 02:32 PM
If you have it in writing the company is responsible for the information they dish out, but at the same time is it a battle worth fighting? You may win the battle but lose the war as they say. Sounds like just another example of an inept company person spewing out wrong information. It happens to all of us.

I'm sorry it happened to you and I hope you are able to recover from it. Maybe if you let them know you made a few decisions based on that info they will find a way to flex a little and compensate you somewhat? Will the person who gave you that info be honest enough to admit it and do they have any pull with management?

Steve B
11-28-2008, 10:34 PM
FMLA does not address pay - it only addresses job protection. Payment for the absence is strictly up to company policy - so it depends on your situation and what their policy is.

This could have very easily been an HR person mispeaking, or being just plain wrong if he/she told you it would be paid. Or, I've also seen it be misunderstood by the employee. The HR person might say, "don't worry, your absence is covered by FMLA" which it is. But the employee interprets this to mean that the absence is "paid".

I think this is an unfortunate misunderstanding and/or mistake. But, it doesn't change the result. My advice is to let it go and chalk it up to experience. Even if the HR person was wrong and you could get him/her to admit it - they probably aren't going to change anything about your pay because they don't want this to be the precedent for the future. The best you might be able to hope for is some kind of agreement with your boss to informally take some extra time off in the future.

Blessed
11-29-2008, 05:38 AM
The company I worked for last required us to use up all of our vacation time (they didn't give us any sick time) before we could take FMLA leave. And once we were out of vacation time we did not get paid while we were on FMLA and in fact had to go in at least once a month (they prefered once a week) to pay our insurance premiums that were normally withheld from our paychecks. If you couldn't pay your insurance, you lost it or had to agree that you would pay all the back insurance in full, in a lump sum, when you returned to work. We also didn't have any short term disability insurance. It made being really sick, or really hurt, or having a family member really sick to where you had to miss a few weeks of work really stressful.

Steve B
11-29-2008, 06:08 AM
Hi Blessed - technically you were actually taking your FMLA leave in conjunction with your vacation time. Then when your vacation time was used up - you then continued on just plain un-paid FMLA.

It is legal for a company to require the use of vacation time during FMLA leave. It prevents an employee from taking 12 weeks off to be with their newborn child, then adding another couple weeks of vacation time on top of that.

Evan
11-29-2008, 05:36 PM
Does your company have an employee handbook? I'd look to see if your company has a policy on the matter first.

As noted, FMLA covers an unpaid leave of absence, not paid, and unless you have the statement in writing, it's a classic he said-she said argument that you'll lose. Even if you did fight for it and win, the legal costs and aggravation of such a case would diminish any judgment or settlement you might receive, assuming that you win (or they settle).

While I do tend to agree that it is your obligation to find out this information, not every person is going to then research the issue. You could have also researched it and thought the company policy was to pay you for the leave for a short period of time.

Either way, I'd research the issue to determine what the actual company policy is.

KristineS
11-29-2008, 05:42 PM
I'm not going to contest it, what happened is done and I don't need the stress.

I just think it is sad that an already stressful time for me was made more stressful by being given the wrong information.

Evan, thanks for the advice about the employee handbook, but ours is not terribly accurate. I guess I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience and know to ask better questions next time.