booted from er job while on general medical leave

hello all

2 questions--

1--has this ever happened to you

2-what would you do

the background----

had meniscus surgery in august-forced to work hurricane gustav while on fmla{family medical leave of absence}--had second meniscus tear while working-doctor refused to call it worker's comp injury-md works for hospital--had second surgery in oct--ran out of pto/sick time and fmla time-was put on general medical leave till i could return-received letter stating i was "termed'-in mid december-stating exhaustion of loa{leave of absence]-called head of human resources who did not know of this and did not know reason that i was let go--they call it releasing from the system--not fired-not terminated etc.--noone could give me an explanation---with hca you have 3 months fmla leave and 3 months gml before they talk of letting you go--

so here i am-still not cleared to work/unemployed

and i am stumped--i loved my job-had no complaints about myself or my work

so what do ya'll think--

thanks--beaujacques

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Here is the long and short of it...what benefits an employer gives you is irrelevant.

The law protects you for up to 12 weeks of leave...whether or not it's paid by your employer (sick days, PTO) or time you take off without pay, the FMLA makes no distinction.

An employer does not have to grant a leave of absence, this is benefit.

It probably would have been better to exercise short-term disability, but then again, that may not have saved your job.

Did you offer to take jobs at the hospital (or were offered) that you could do without walking so much, such as telephone triage, etc?

Just something to consider.

[kellyc034]

I am a tech PRN currently on LOA for ACL reconstruction as well as lateral and medial meniscus tear repairs. I didn't qualify for FMLA due to my PRN status, but I was granted 6 weeks medical leave. I know this is all irrelevant to your situation, but my HR generalist gave me a paper in writing stating that my job was secured with no chance for termination as long as my ortho stated I needed to be out, and that my leave did not extend beyond the granted leave timeline. Did your HR give you any paperwork like this that cements the leave agreements you were granted? I'm not really informed on this type of situation as this is the first time I have had to go through this, but it seems to me that if there is some sort of paper trail stating the agreement on leave, you shouldn't have been terminated. At least not with a letter by mail. I would think HR would need to contact you about your status and what is going on before just sending out a form letter.

Good luck!

[workingforskies]

You mentioned the 3 magic letters. "HCA". Trust me, you will be better off in the long run.

[pink85]

I would contact your local labor relations board. They can tell you everything you need to know!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

you made at least two errors, you shouldnt have worked the hurricane....and you allowed the doc to dictate that it wasnt work related...you need to see an attorney, asap

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

The above posts were on target, I think you are out of luck.