Answers Posted By Virginia Hardwick

Answer to Can an employer require evening social events/12-hour days at risk of being fired?

As a very general matter, an employer may require salaried employees to work long -- even unreasonable -- hours. (Many attorneys in large law firms have experienced this personally!) The question, though, is whether the employer has properly designated you as a salaried employee rather than an hourly employee. As a rule of thumb, employees who do not have managerial or professional responsibilities should be paid by the hour and should be paid overtime for extra-long days such as those you are describing.

posted Mar 20, 2010 05:06 AM [EST]

Answer to can you be wrote up for call offs if they fall under the fmla

As a general matter, your employer may not retaliate against you for taking FMLA leave. Your leave after surgery may well have been FMLA leave, and should not be the subject of discipline (or write-ups). You say that the days you missed for the flu were also under the FMLA. This would be surprising because the FMLA covers serious health conditions and as a general matter the flu would not fall within this definition. Your daughter's seizures may qualify as a serious health condition for which you are entitled to take FMLA leave.

To evaluate your right to take FMLA leave and whether your employer has acted appropriately, an attorney will need to look at many factors, including whether your employer is large enough to be covered by the FMLA, whether you have worked there long enough to be covered, and how much leave you have already taken. An attorney will also need to explore the basis for the write-ups to evaluate whether your employer had legitimate reason for the discipline, or whether you are being treated differently from other employees.

I suggest that you speak with an attorney who can further discuss these issues with you.

posted Mar 20, 2010 05:00 AM [EST]