Legal Question in Medical Leave in Georgia

Employee allowed FMLA inappropriately?

At the business I work for, there is a female there that I feel is abusing the FMLA.She has a stomach condition she says the doctor diagnosed as ''gerd''.If our personnel director had been on his toes, we could have gotten rid of her the year before, because some of the absences he labeled FMLA were in the first year of her employment and she had well exceeded that!! she and her husband have been having marital troubles, so she went and got a doctors note to be out 2 weeks, using the ''stomach problem'' or ''gerd'' as an excuse. How can we legally terminate this lady who has no regard to the feelings of her co-workers and thinks obviously only of herself? Please help with this!!

Thanks!


Asked on 4/29/03, 6:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeff Kent Kent & Merritt, P.A.

Re: Employee allowed FMLA inappropriately?

If she is using FMLeave properly, you cannot terminate her for using that time. However, there are a number of ways to reduce the chances that she is abusing family and medical leave, including getting a second opinion, making sure that she truly qualifies, getting recertification every 30 days, etc. Because there are so many factors in this process, you will probably want to talk with an attorney to see what you can and cannot do.

For some general information, you can tune into WPBA (Atlanta public television) this Friday night at 9:00 p.m. for the Layman's Lawyer tv program. Another attorney and I will be talking about the Family and Medical Leave Act. After that, if you still have questions, I would suggest that you contact an attorney.

The foregoing is general information only, not specific legal advice. No attorney/client relationship has been created or should be implied.

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Answered on 4/30/03, 8:06 am


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