Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Re: Migraine Headache

Sorry to hear of your condition. There are two laws that may protect you - the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If your company is subject to the FMLA (ask HR or a supervisor - the co. must have 50 or more employees), then you can submit medical certification of your condition and ask for FMLA protection. (The co. may have a form for you to use.) That means you can take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12 month period for your condition(it can be short amounts such as two hours for appointments or 1/2 day of leave) which would be protected. The co. could not discharge you or take any action against you at all for such leave.

Also, your condition might qualify for an accommodation under the ADA. You can ask your company for such an accommodation. It could be that you are allowed to use leave as necessary for your condition, as long as you otherwise can do your job. The ADA is complicated, and the company is allowed to ask for medical informaiton about the condition, but they should at least consider your request (if they are subject to the ADA - at least 15 employees).

If you feel the company is violating either law, you can bring a FMLA complaint at the US Dept. of Labor (dol.gov), or sue for disability discriminaiton under the ADA with the EEOC (eeoc.gov). You don't need a lawyer to do either.

Good luck.

Jeff Sheldon

The Sheldon Law Firm

[email protected]

Caveat: This is general advice only and should not be relied upon as legal advice because all facts and circumstances are not known to the author.