Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Re: labor laws

It depends. If you are covered by the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), then no. To be covered, your employer must have 50 or more employees and you must have worked for them for at least 12 months at some point, and for at least 1250 hours in the 12 months immediately before you start leave. So, if you qualify, tell the company you want FMLA protection for your leave. (You can then use whatever leave would be available for caring for a sick child under the company's policy - sick leave or annual or something else). The company has the right to ask you to get a medical certification from the doctor explaining the need for leave. Companies usually use the form provided by the US Department of Labor.

If the FMLA does not apply, then you have to look to the employer's policies. If they allow you to use sick or other leave to care for a family member, fine. But even if it does, the company may still reserve the right to discipline or discharge for poor attendance, even if it is to care for an ill child. Most companies would only do this if there were many absences, but you never know.

Also, if you believe the company is treating you differently than other people who do the same job and work for the same supervisor, because of gender, race, age, national origin, disability, etc., you may have a discrimination claim. Those can be brought for free at the EEOC (eeoc.gov).

If all else fails, try just using annual leave if you have any. You should not be disciplined for using leave that you earned. (Although the employer may have policies on that as well, such as the need to schedule annual leave in advance.)

Of course, you can talk about the situation with a trusted supervisor or HR (if you have an HR dept.) to see where you stand.

Good luck and I hope your child is well!

Jeff Sheldon

Jeffrey L. Sheldon

The Sheldon Law Firm

CAVEAT: This is only general advice based on limited facts and knowledge of the situation. It thus can not be relied upon as legal advice nor it the author responsible or liable for any actions by the parites involved in the matter.