What To Do If Your Employer Does Not Approve Your FMLA Leave?

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can e described as a Federal law that grants eligible employees the right to take some time off from their work in case of certain care taking responsibilities and health problems arising. This law is put in place by the Federal government to see that the employees are able to balance between their workplace and family obligations. There are some very common ways in which the employers knowingly or unknowingly violate the provisions of the FMLA law. This article discusses some of them and tells employees how to manage the situation in case an employer denies them a FMLA approved leave for which he or she is eligible. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) were passed by the Congress in the year 1993. The law mandates that the employers provide their employees with unpaid leaves combined with a guarantee for reinstatement under some limited and closely defined circumstances. Some of the states in the U.S have strengthened these protections for employees and have significantly expanded the opportunities to take leave. In several cases, those employees who have a union contract have access to more protections and benefits. You should be able to see this law in the labor law posters 2013 used by various organizations.

The FMLA rights of the employees are limited by several factors including the size of the employer, length of service of the employee and the reasons demanding leave. Employers who have a minimum of 50 employees are covered by this law and therefore must act in compliance with it. When an employer is covered by this law, not all the employees working for his firm are covered by FMLA. The minimum eligibility condition for the employees is that they should have served the organization during the previous year for not less than 1,250 working hours. Also, not all kinds of leaves are covered by the act. Employees can claim leaves only in case of child birth or adoption or foster care placement of a child, the personal health conditions of the employee, the serious health condition of the employee’s family member, qualifying exigencies that arise on account of a family member's military deployment or a family member's serious injury or illness that occurred during military service.

As an employee, if you have genuine and acceptable reasons to believe that you are entitled to enjoy the provisions of the FMLA leave and that your employer has denied it or refused to let you have your legal rights (in any one of the ways described above or any other way) you can right away consult a lawyer for necessary actions against the employer. Especially in cases where you face some emergency situation of this kind, the best thing is to get a lawyer into the picture in order to negotiate on your behalf. This is one of the easiest and the best ways to guarantee your rights under FMLA. On the other hand, if you have already been affected by denial of leave or disciplined for using this provision, you can also seek the help of a lawyer to help you determine your options and go forward with the necessary actions that will benefit you. Some of the possibilities that you can think of in this regard include trying to negotiate for a settlement of your claims, filing an administrative complaint approaching the department of labor, or filing a lawsuit even. You can judge the situation and your needs and then proceed accordingly.