EMPLOYER PROBLEM!

My employer is now saying that I cannot take my vacation time since i have only been on the job for 7 months, and she also is saying that she will not approve my leave for the surgery at all. Any laws i can print out or people i can contact to help me with this?? In the employee handbook, the rule is that i am allowed to take my vacation time after 90 days. So the year rule is something she made up on the spot to prohibit me from leaving for a month. She even told me she plans on revising the rule in the handbook to say that no one can take elective surgeries in their first yr of employment. Since when is a medically necessary surgery.. elective?? Im heated right now.. Any suggestions?? Any help is great help. Thanks all.

WOW! If that were me, I would be looking for a new job!!! I only "plan" on being out of work 1 week (unless I have complications) Surgery on Monday, Home on Wednesday, Work on Monday. I know it is soon but I was out on disability in Oct for a injury to my hand (surgery) and I can't go out again for 1 year from then. Even if I return oa few hrs per day I will try my best to be back on Monday. I sit at a desk so I don't have to be on my feet, so that is a plus & I have a bathroom very close to my office, so I don't think it will be a problem. As for your situation, I know with jobs I have had the full week of vacation really begins after you have been there 1 year but it accrues after 90 days, so they might be right about that. See if you can work extra hrs up until you leave and use that as your time off. Like say instead of working 8 hrs per day work 10 & then by the time your surgery is her can have built up hrs to use. Just a thought??? Good Luck! Amy

I Have actually been looking for a new job for a while now, because of their insensitive comments to me about my weight, etc. My company policy as i understand it, is that i am allowed to take the vacation time after 90 days. I accrue time from the day i start or the 1st of the first full month of work, whichever comes later.. So according to the woman upstairs in Accounts Payable who also does payroll, i will have 40+ hrs by May 30th and they are mine to take and do what i want. The problem is that we dont have an HR dept so the handbook was written by my immediate boss and there is no system of checks and balances. I originally disclosed to her and my other co-worker that I was pursuing the surgery, because they are also obese and i brought it up to see if they had thought of it at all before. Thats what is so hard to digest. They, of all people, should sympathize with me. The issue with my boss is not that i havent been there for at least a yr, because they granted another co-worker a 2 week vacation in June and his yr isnt here until September. So she even admitted to me that her issue is the fact that she has no one to cover my postion. However, she just fired someone who could have covered for me, and the other woman who could have covered for me, is on maternity leave, and has been since Dec! She said, even when that woman comes back in Sept... she wouldnt approve my leave. She wants me to wait until Dec 07 or Jan 08 to even bring it up again. So i asked her what she thinks i should do about all the tests i already took. and she said," What do u care? u dont pay for them?" and i informed her that I paid co-pays and just the inconvenience of getting re-tested is not something i am too happy about. She said. bottom line. She wont approve me. I told her to get a temp from an agency. She said that its too expensive. But, she isnt paying the salary of the woman on maternity right now, OR the woman they fired.. Plus, i would be out on disability, so they wouldnt be paying me either for those weeks.. But she doesnt want to hear it. I think i am being discriminated against. No, i am not in "immediate danger of dying" as she put it, BUT would the same be said for removing a lump in a breast.?? It may not be immediately threatening, but it has the potential to be life threatening and therefore is an elective surgery for preventative measures. I regret discussing anything with them.. This is just a nightmare that i didnt think i would have to deal with. THank you for all your support and responses.

I haven't read the whole law, but I know that my time off of work was covered under FMLA. I know that I was able to take up to 12 weeks off within a 12 month period under FMLA, but I'm not sure how long you have to be with a company before FMLA will kick in, but it might be worth a shot to check it out.

As per the FMLA, I believe you must be employeed for 12 months or 1,250 hours before you can qualify for FMLA leave. **This information is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

It also depends upon the number of employees. It is my understanding that the FMLA does not apply to business with less than 50 employees.

Yeah, we are the corporate office of a non profit and only have 7 people in the building. I dont qualify for FMLA , because i have to have been an employee for 12 consecutive months. I do however qualify for Temporary Disability but i have to exhaust my vacation/sick time before they will cover me, as far as i know anyway..

There are a lot of variables here. 1. how many employees are there? 2. are you under an employment contract or is it employment at will? 3. did your employer say before that you could take the time off? 4. why are you leaving for a month? does your job involve heavy lifting, you can probably go back in 2 weeks. 5. is there an HR department, have you discussed this with HR? Angela

We have about 7 people in the corporate office, our insurance is 100% covered by the company, and its a Small Group Plan. I beleive i read in the employee handbook that it is employee at will which means they can fire me at any time for any reason with notice or without. My employer was 100% behind me throughout the process and i was giving her updates after every appt i had. She was also planning on getting the Lap Band, and tried to convince me to get that as well. I beleive she started becoming bitter towards me when i decided to get the Open RNY. She commented how i was crazy for choosing that surgery and that the recovery time is more, etc etc. Lately, she has just been trying to convince me to "go to the gym". There is no HR dept. any and all concerns or issues goes through the same people that wrote the rules and control the company. They decide on a case by case basis. And also, my surgeon told me that at BEST, he can approve me to go back after 3 weeks with no heavy lifting. However, i mentioned that to my boss, and she said that that is a big MAYBE factor and she doesnt want to risk me getting an infection or a complication and then needing MORE time off.