In 1993, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to provide employees with certainty when they need leave from work for family or medical reasons. The FMLA gives employees the right to job protection during periods of family or medical leave. However, even more than 30 years after it was passed, some employees still struggle to get the FMLA leave they deserve.
If your employer denied your request for FMLA leave or is putting pressure on you not to take it, now is the time to seek legal counsel from an experienced Los Angeles FMLA lawyer. At Allred, Maroko & Goldberg, our employment attorneys have an outstanding track record of fighting and winning for victims of employment law violations.
An AMG Law employment law attorney is ready to hear your story and advise you as to whether you have a case. Call 323-746-1853 or complete our online contact form to schedule a free initial consultation.
FMLA Overview
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a Clinton-era federal law providing unpaid job-protected leave. It applies to many employees, but it depends on hours worked and the size of the business. Eligible employees can take leave due to their illness, to care for a seriously ill family member or to welcome a new child into the family.
Employees can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12-month period. However, the employee and the business must meet the following criteria:
- Employee: Must have worked for the business for at least 12 months and have worked 1,250 hours or more in the last year.
- Provide notice: When a condition is foreseeable, such as a birth, adoption, or scheduled surgical procedure, employees must give employers at least 30 days’ notice.
- Business size: This only applies to businesses with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the employee’s work site.
- Business type: The FMLA applies to private sector employees, public agencies, and schools. However, Section 108 includes special rules for local educational agency employees. There are also exclusions for certain federal officers and employees.
If you work for a covered employer, meet the employee criteria, and are still denied family and medical leave, you may have the right to take legal action against your employer. Under California law, employees have additional rights. An AMG Law medical leave attorney can guide you through the complexities of state and federal employment law and explain where you stand.
Types of leave under FMLA
Eligible employees can only request family and medical leave for one of the following reasons: .
If an employee requests FMLA leave for any of the following 7 reasons, a covered employer must comply:
- New child: This includes the birth of a new child and welcoming a newly adopted or fostered child into a home
- Serious illness in the family: You may take medical leave to care for an immediate family member (spouse, parent, son, or daughter) who is seriously ill
- Serious illness: To recover from your own serious health condition
- Injured service member: To care for a family member in the military who has been injured
- Qualified exigency leave: An eligible employee may take unpaid leave to address urgent needs arising from a family member’s military deployment
- Military caregiver: The next of kin of a seriously injured or ill servicemember may take up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to provide care
- Family of active-duty servicemembers: When an active-duty servicemember is deployed abroad for more than 12 months, his or her spouse, child, or parent may take 12 weeks of unpaid leave
Protections during FMLA leave
One of the FMLA’s stated purposes is “to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability and economic security of families.” By providing job-protected leave for many employees, the FMLA should allow eligible employees to take the leave they need without fear of losing their source of income once the leave period is over.
Upon return from leave, an employer must either place you in the same job, a similar role, or transfer you to a different but equivalent job. However, there are exemptions for highly compensated employees.
If an employee is among the highest paid 10 percent, the employer could successfully argue that allowing the employee to return would cause “substantial and grievous economic injury” to his or her business. If you believe this is being used as an excuse to deny your return to work, seek advice from a medical leave attorney with Allred, Maroko & Goldberg.
The FMLA also requires employers to “maintain the employee’s coverage under any group health plan…on the same conditions as coverage would have been provided if the employee had been continuously employed during the entire leave period.”
If an employer offers paid sick leave or vacation, an employee may take part of his or her family medical leave as paid vacation and the remainder as unpaid leave.
FMLA Violations
According to the US Department of Labor, the most common FMLA violations are:
- Denying leave
- Failing to reinstate employees to the same or equivalent job and benefits
- Wrongful termination
- Failing to maintain health insurance benefits
- Discriminating through disciplinary action and other means.
In 2024, there were 349 compliance actions with violations, affecting 344 employees. They were paid back wages amounting to $1,482,398. If your FMLA rights have been violated, you could also be entitled to back wages and other forms of compensation.
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) vs. FMLA
While the FMLA is a federal law that applies in all parts of the country, some states have enacted legislation that goes further in protecting employees’ rights to family and medical leave.
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA), which became law in 1993 and was updated in 2023, has many similarities with the FMLA, but provides additional protections that Los Angeles employees should be aware of:
- Covered employers: The FMLA only covers businesses with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. The CFRA is much broader and includes employers with as few as 5 employees, with no worksite mileage limitation.
- Additional family members: The CFRA has an expanded definition of family member compared with the FMLA. It includes adult children, spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, the children of a domestic partner, or a designated person (someone with a family-like relationship with the employee)
- Highest-paid employees included: The latest version of the CFRA removes the exclusion on the highest-paid employees in a business benefiting from unpaid, job-protected leave.
- Right to reinstatement to the same position unless your employer can show it is an undue burden.
When the CFRA’s requirements are more protective than the FMLA’s, they are the legal requirement that apply. If your employer is trying to deny you the CFRA leave you are entitled to, talk to one of Allred, Maroko & Goldberg’s Los Angeles FMLA attorneys to explore whether you can pursue legal action.
What to Do If Your Employer Violates Your Right to Take Medical Leave to Care for Yourself or a Loved One Pursuant to Either the FMLA or CFRA
If you believe you have been illegally denied family or medical leave, the following steps could help you protect your job and receive compensation.
Gather evidence
Gather evidence to prove you had the right to family or medical leave. This could include your correspondence with anyone from the Company requesting medical leave, the Company’s response to your requests, your medical provider’s notes requesting medical leave, etc. .
Consult an AMG Law attorney
The employment attorneys at Allred, Maroko & Goldberg have an in-depth knowledge of both federal and California law relating to family and medical leave. Our lawyers can advise you on the strongest route to justice. Options could include negotiating with your employer, filing a lawsuit, or filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the California Civil Rights Department.
Depending on the nature of your claim, our medical leave attorneys could help you build a strong case to recover the following compensation for FMLA/CFRA violations:
- Lost wages
- Emotional distress damages (CFRA)
- Attorneys’ fees
- Court costs
While the FMLA does not authorize a plaintiff to obtain damages for pain and suffering or punitive damages, it may be possible to claim these for a CFRA violation. An experienced Los Angeles family and medical leave attorney can explain the compensation you may be able to recover.
Trust Allred, Maroko & Goldberg to Fight FMLA/CFRA Violations
If you have been denied family or medical leave or, even worse, fired or demoted because of taking it, your civil rights have been violated. The FMLA and CFRA are robust pieces of legislation that can protect you from unfair treatment and entitle you to compensation if your rights have been violated. Strengthen your chances of a successful outcome by talking to one of our Los Angeles FMLA attorneys.
Over the last 50 years, Allred, Maroko & Goldberg’s employment attorneys have won big for hardworking employees who have had their employment rights violated. We take most cases on a contingency basis, so you only pay our fees if we win your case. You have nothing to lose by talking to an FMLA attorney and exploring your legal options.
Schedule a free consultation to discover whether you have a case. Call 323-746-1853 or contact us online today.