What is medical leave retaliation and how we can help

Medical leave retaliation occurs when an employer treats an employee differently because of their medical leave situation. Big and small employers, whether or not they are covered under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) or California’s equivalent California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) generally need to provide job protected leave to their employees.

Our attorneys have a long history of representing people who have taken medical leave only to be treated differently by their employers. Our Results page gives some examples of the medical leave cases that we have brought for our clients.

How much medical leave does an employee get?

There is no bright line rule for how much medical leave an employee gets. The size of the company and the amount of time that the employee has worked for the company are two factors to examine. Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), an employee is entitled to 12 weeks of job protected leave as long as they employer has 50 employees within a 75 miles radius and as long as the employee has worked 1,250 hours of the preceding year. The California Family Rights Acts (“CRFA”) provides more protection for employees who work for small employers — CFRA covers employees who work for employers who have more than 5 employees.

Am I still entitled to medical leave if the employer is not covered under the FMLA or CFRA?

Most likely, yes. As long as the employer has 5 or more employee, the employee is entitled to take medical leave as a reasonable accommodation even if the employer is not covered by FMLA or CFRA.

How much medical leave is the employee entitled to?

It depends. If the employee is covered under the CFRA or FMLA, they are entitled to 12 weeks of job protected leave. However, even if the employee exhausts their CFRA or FMLA leave, they may still be entitled to additional leave as a reasonable accommodation. Employees who are not covered under the CFRA or FMLA will most likely be entitled to medical leave as a reasonable accommodation.