Legal Question in Medical Leave in Florida

Re: employment??

If your employer is covered by the FMLA and you are eligible for FMLA protection, that is, if the employer has at least 50 employees and you have worked for them for at least 1 year, and at least 1250 hours in the 12 months prior to your taking leave, then the employer probably can not fire you. Your son's condition would probably be considered a "serious health condition" under the law, and you were caring for him (keeping an eye on him for head wounds, and providing psychological comfort, including taking him to McDonald's to eat, are including in "caring for" someone) so you would be entitled to protection. But you would have had to have told the employer enough to know FMLA could be involved, such as that your son was injured and you were taking him to the doctor. If the employer only knew that you did not show up at work but did not know why, then they would not know the FMLA might be involved and just thought you were AWOL. In that case, they did not act illegally.

If you want to file an FMLA complaint, you can do so for free with the US DOL. You do not need an attorney. They will investigate to see if anything illegal happened.

Also, check your employee handbook to see what kind of leave you were allowed to use to take care of your son. If your employer denied you leave you were entitled to, that could be breach of contract or even discrimination if they let men or people of other races or religions or ethnicity use the leave.

Last, if this was simply a misunderstanding, of course try to explain it to the employer if you have not already to see if you can get your job back.

Good luck, and I hope you find a better job.