The statute, as well as the law, helps to indemnify employees against termination from jobs due to medical reasons. The law was put into place to protect the employees against exploitation, and other unwarranted conditions imposed upon them by employers.
Right from the medieval times, the poor and the week have always been exploited, and their undue advantage taken by influential employers. With the advent and proliferation of democracies across most countries in the world, it was decided to protect the local communities through the law to halt this unprecedented practice. Continual efforts by the governments have helped to check the exploitation, but in the modern times, the scenario has reversed totally and it is now the employers who need protection against individuals who resort to the statute, and make use of it, for all the wrong reasons. The Family and Medical Leave Act is one such statute which allows employees to keep their jobs in absentia while they take medical leave. The statute has been wrongly used, more than often, and business owners have suffered considerable losses since they have been forced to compensate the employees terminated while on medical leave.
The FMLA (Family & Medical Leave Act) makes it possible for an employee to seek temporary medical leave for a maximum of 12 weeks, and receive the health insurance benefits during the leave period. The employee does not receive any remuneration during the leave. The employer is, however, forced to officially retain the employee during the absence, and re-offer employment when the employee resumes his or her duties. In case the employer fails to do this, a similar job with an identical pay is to be offered to the employee in compensation. If the employer fails to fulfill the FMLA rules and regulations, the employee can file a litigation and is liable to seek damages and financial compensation. Many individuals take undue advantage of the FMLA rules, and often extend their leave period on medical grounds. The business owner is forced to wait, and even face a certain loss while conducting the business owing to the reduction in sales. In such cases, the employer ought to terminate the employee, but taking into consideration the FMLA rules, he or she should be able to prove that the employee would have been terminated from the job irrespective of the medical condition.
Ideally, the termination should occur almost immediately after the employee seeks the help of FMLA statute. If more time is spent in terminating the employee, the person can seek legal help, and the court would be inclined to take a critical view regarding the delay in taking the appropriate action. It becomes necessary to prove inefficiency on the employee’s part to conduct and fulfill his or her duties in the correct manner, and failure to perform to the fullest possible extent. Another option is to prove negligence. The employer can also prove that the termination was due to a layoff procedure. However, the layoff action should be backed by terminating other employees too.
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