Corporate life is just as important as your personal life since you spend about a third of your whole life at work. Therefore, a great work environment is essential to your quality of life, so many employment laws exist to ensure that workers are protected from exploitative and toxic workplaces.
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an excellent example of such laws. The FMLA demands that private employers with fifty or more workers and federal, state, and local government employers offer up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave annually to employees for particular reasons. Therefore, it’s essential to know the ins and outs of this law to ensure that you aren’t taken advantage of. Here are some insights into how the FMLA works in California.
The CFRA offers extra protection to employees in California.
The California Family Rights Act (CFRA) is the state’s version of the federal Family Medical Leave Act. However, the CFRA covers smaller employers and more family members than the FMLA. The CFRA states that employers with at least five workers must offer eligible employees up to 12 weeks of leave over a single 12 month period. Some eligibility requirements for this leave include an employee’s need to care for a spouse or domestic partner, grandchild, sibling, or grandparent with a serious health condition.
An employee’s own serious health condition, wish to bond with a new child within twelve months of childbirth, foster care placement, or adoption, and qualifying exigency military leave may also make them eligible for CFRA. Also, you qualify for CFRA if you have completed at least 1,250 hours of service over the most recent 12-month period. Therefore, if you work for a covered employer who violates your rights under the FMLA or CFRA, you can hire an employment lawyer to handle your worker discrimination case. Reputable law firms such as Perkins Asbill can help with this need.
Perkins Asbill, a Professional Law Corporation, handles a wide range of business litigation and employment law cases in Sacramento, California. As such, they represent clients in wrongful termination and retaliation, sexual harassment, whistleblower cases, as well as wage and hour disputes. Their Employment discrimination litigation services also cater to workers whose rights have been violated under the CFRA or FMLA in California.
Therefore, employees who work for public agencies and private employers who refuse their FMLA leave without cause can pursue employment discrimination lawsuits. This way, they can receive personal vindication or financial compensation or ensure that this form of discrimination doesn’t happen to others in the future.
Also, their experienced attorneys help you clarify your goals and evaluate the potential costs and benefits of pursuing your employment discrimination case. What’s more, they have represented numerous employees in many high-stake cases, getting the due justice for employees who have been wronged.
Federal FMLA Rights
California employers must also comply with the FMLA if they have at least fifty workers for at least twenty weeks in the previous or current year. Under the FMLA, you’re eligible for leave if you have worked for at least 1,250 hours during the previous year, have worked for your company for at least a year, and work at a location with fifty or more co-workers within a seventy-five-mile radius. If you’re taking your family leave to care for a loved one with a breathing problem, it’s essential to understand various breathing disorders and your available treatment options.
Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, shortness of breath, and sleep apnea are common disorders that may cause symptoms like difficulty breathing and chest pain. Also, Emphysema is a condition common among smokers that destroy the air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs, making it harder to breathe. However, you can schedule an appointment with a healthcare professional to diagnose your breathing issue’s root cause and the best ways to treat it.
Length Of FMLA Leave
California employees can take up to twelve weeks of leave in one year to bond with their new child, treat a severe health condition, or cater to other qualifying exigencies. Your leave renews yearly, as long as you meet the eligibility requirements above. Furthermore, workers who need military caregiver leave can take up to 26 weeks of leave in a single year period.
However, unless the same family member suffers another injury or another family member suffers an injury during active duty, you cannot take additional leave for this purpose. If you’re caring for an injured family member or are on leave due to a personal condition, you would undoubtedly require medical supplies to make this period more manageable. Thankfully, some pharmacy services make paying for medical supplies a breeze, so you can order wheelchairs, respirators, nebulizers, and other medical supplies while Medicare is billed on your behalf.
To conclude, FMLA is one of the many laws that protect employees in California. The above-listed points are some vital things you must understand about FMLA to prevent being exploited.
