Can my husband be terminated during surgery leave?

My husband had hernia surgery on Jan 18th 2013. He gave his employer notice and informed of being out for 6 weeks. His HR person told him to go through FMLA, which he did. They denied him protection due to his 1st year anniversary being Feb 20th. That dates falls during his 6 week leave. The termination came through the mail as a letter saying the termination was due to his 3 weeks of short term disability running out and unability to return to work. We had both talked to the HR dept during his leave about his payments for his med ins premiums and that we could pay them upfront for the weeks he did not get a paycheck, they informed us that it would come out of his paycheck when he returned to work. They never said anything about terminating him. When he called them after receiving his letter of termination the same HR person told hiim that they just remembered that is was company policy to terminated after std ran out. We do not have our handbook, it is at this work. Was this wrongful termination??