Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Company taking back sick pay

I am currently covered under fmla. On 11/3/02 I was aprvd for fmla with a freq of up to 4 days per wk lasting 12 mths. After a conflict w/my boss on 1/9 about another issue she contaced our fmla dept and told them my condition had changed since I was originally aprvd for fmla on 11/3. I rcvd a letter dated 1/14/03 req me to recertify my fmla. I was aprvd again for the same freq, this time without pay. They are going to take back about $4700 in sick pay. My companies policy on sick pay is you dont get paid until your out 3 consecutive days, then upon aprvl from a med team you get pd starting on the 4th day. A couple of mnths ago I was out for a month so I started getting pd after that under what I thought was my short term disabilty benifts as this is very common in my office. I know they can take back pay from 11/3/02 if I was pd in error but I thought they could only take back pay to 1/14/03 (when I was req to recertify)if they are just deciding to code my time different. My question is can they legally take back all of that pay since my sick time was legitimate and if they can is there a limit as to how much they can take per paycheck? Thankyou.


Asked on 3/04/03, 8:43 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Stern Shavitz Law Group

Re: Company taking back sick pay

The only limitation on them "taking back" sick pay or other pay you receive is if the decision to recoup this money was motivated by an intent to retaliate against you for exercising your FMLA rights. FMLA leave is not paid leave under the law, so if your employer pays you for any part of your leave, it is essentially a gift. However, if the Company normally pays all other ees out on leave, then you would have to consider if there was an illegal motive behind why your pay is now being taken back.

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Answered on 3/05/03, 10:59 am


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