Legal Question in Medical Leave in California

FMLA and Profit Sharing

While I was out on the FMLA, the company policy was amended (favorable) to include profit sharing payments for employees who went out on medical leaves. I was told they wanted to provide payment for one individual in particular, but would cover all medical leaves. However, they do not want to pay me profit sharing as I used the FMLA leave to take care of my wife and 3 children after my wife's surgery. So, my employer said they will only pay profit sharing for individuals that take medical leaves, specifically for some sort of medical need for the employee themselves. They agreed the newly amended policy was not clear and would specifically modify the policy again to exclude profit sharing for individuals going out using the FMLA for family leave reasons. I questioned the inconsistent treatment, and lack of clarity in this policy. Can you advise if my employer can separate between medical leaves and family leaves. My question is this: Doesn't this penalize employees who use the FMLA, treat these employees differently than other medical leaves, and violate the spirit and letter of the FMLA law? Shouldn't the policy be applied consistently between all employees, either paying profit sharing or not paying profit sharing?

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