Quote:
Originally Posted by adam_k
There is protection under FMLA that they cannot penalize you for getting medical help nor can they discriminate you. I don't know all the rules about it but I think you just have to tell the employer that you are taking time off for FMLA. If they fire you then it is wrongful termination. That being said you have to tell them before you take off and if you just leave I don't think you are covered under the act. Unless you are unable to tell them for some reason. Car accident or physical trauma that prevents you.
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I could be living in my own little realist world, where discrimination is rampant, but no longer exists in the workplace,
but I must ask,
who would want their employer to know, that their illness is due to mental illness (E.g. Severe depression or suicide attempt),
and feel comfortable returning to that same workplace?
I'm fairly sure the FMLA-Family Medical Leave Act, requires ongoing physician documentation regarding the specific details of the illness.
Plus, I certainly would not want to pursue a wrongful termination suit, if/when
mental illness required hospitalization.
It would be too easy for them to claim that your current mental status prevented you from adequately performing your job duties.
(Fortunately, I am self-employed and don't have to deal with corporate politics anymore). But I remember many years ago when I was wrongly terminated due to a hospitalization from a complicated pregnancy during the first trimester, (they did not know I was pregnant and an unscrupulous nurse in the emergency room told one of my coworkers),
and their lame excuses (I would be out too long), seemed enough, that no lawyers wanted to get involved. I held a very high level administration job at another hospital at that time.