Answers Posted By Neil Klingshirn

Answer to Can they refuse intermitent leave because they have no part time jobs?

You can take leave when medically necessary.

Assuming that she otherwise qualifies for FMLA leave, your daughter can take leave when it is medically necessary, in chunks of time or all at once. The regulation governing intermittent leave, 29 CFR 825.117 states as follows:

For intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule, there must be a medical need for leave (as distinguished from voluntary treatments and procedures) and it must be that such medical need can be best accommodated through an intermittent or reduced leave schedule. The treatment regimen and other information described in the certification of a serious health condition (see Sec. 825.306) meets the requirement for certification of the medical necessity of intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule.

Employees needing intermittent FMLA leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule must attempt to schedule their leave so as not to disrupt the employer's operations. In addition, an employer may assign an employee to an alternative position with equivalent pay and benefits that better accommodates the employee's intermittent or reduced leave schedule.


posted Feb 3, 2001 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to Can they force me to work full time?

Yes, but ask for a reasonable accommodation.

If your former employer needed five days a week out of your position, it can increase the hours per week required from that position. The issue is then whether your employer can can reasonably accommodate your medical condition without creating an undue hardship. If not, your medical condition makes you "not qualified" to perform the new job.

You should have qualified for unemployment compensation, however. Your employer might try to say that you quit; however, you did not quit. You were doing your job just fine; they changed it on you. When your employer changes your job to the point that you cannot perform it, the law treats the change as a discharge. If it is not too late to appeal your unemployment compensation claim, do so now.



posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to Do equal pay jobs have to be at the same time?

I believe that the jobs can be at different times.

The last time I looked at this issue I understood that the jobs under consideration as equals did not have to be open at the same time, and that the EPA covered situations like yours, where a member of the opposite sex followed the party complaining of the equal pay problem. To find authority to support this point, however, will require research.

To research this law, you should contact an attorney in the city where you live. Most states have their own equal pay law in addition to the federal law, so you can kill two birds with one stone.



posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to Should I worry about a phone call from HR after I complained?

The employer may be investigating your complaint.

You haven't given enough facts in order to make any guess as to why they are meeting with you. If you made an allegation of illegal activity then they may be responding by meeting with you to investigate. There could be any number of reasons why they want to meet with you; at least they responded to your grievance. Do not assume retaliation.

Do not attempt to secretly tape the meeting - it is illegal to do so in Florida. You may ask them if you can also have an attorney at the meeting. They probably will refuse. If you work for a private employer. there is no law requiring them to allow you to bring an attorney to the meeting. You may be entitled to bring a representative with you if you ask. Immediately after the meeting, write down in specific detail everything everyone said for future reference.



posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to I think my former employer is retaliating with bad references.

An employer cannot retaliate with a poor reference

Assuming that your release is valid, you can only pursue claims that arose after you signed it. If your employer is giving you poor references because it harbors ill will towards you for engaging in the protected activity that you mentioned, you would have a claim for retaliation. If you can prove that the poor references prevented you from getting a job, you could recover the value of that job.

Proving all of this will be hard. Neither your employer nor your prospective employers are likely to admit to the bad references. Ohio law also protects employers who give out bad references, even if false, so long as not malicious. Your case, however, is that your employer is giving you poor references for an unlawful reason, so you could possibly overcome this. Finally, we need to look at your release to see whether it is, in fact, valid.



posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to Can they retaliate against me by increasing my hours?

Your claim would be difficult to prove.

A claim for workers compensation retaliation may be difficult to win. First, Ohio law requires you to quickly notify your employer or your intent to sue, and then to sue soon after that. Further, your employer will probably say that changing your hours had nothing to do with your injury and would point out that it could have terminated you or increased your hours when you were first hurt, not three years after the fact. Finally, your employer could say that it did not fire you at all but merely changed your job in response to an increase in business.


posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]

Answer to Retaliation for embarrasing the company president.

Embarrassing the boss may not be protected conduct

The short answer is that, in Ohio, you might have a claim if the retaliation jeopardizes established public policy. Without knowing more, I cannot point to established public policy prohibiting retaliation for embarrassing the company president. However, there may be more that you can tell me. Also, with internet and email privacy issues being on the forefront of everyone's mind, and with the prevailing view being that employees should not use the internet to watch porn at work and can get fired for doing so, you will probably find a sympathetic ear for your story of retaliation by the President when he had to play by the same rules.


posted Nov 28, 2000 1:12 PM [EST]