Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

Can I be laid off after returning to work from short term disability?

I live in Illinois and I work out of a Union Hall. I was put on short term disability on 11/23/11 for a surgery do to Ulnar nerve entrapment. My contractor and hall was made aware of this. They did not offer me FMLA but said I would continue to be employed by the contractor. I was released back to work on 2/20/12 full duty no restrictions and the contractor laid me off due to lack of work. Even though several employees have said there is work that could be manned and one forman was going to call me to work on a sat/sun job. Can they legally lay me off after STD for lack of work when there is work? If I hired an attorney would they have the burden of proof to prove that there was in fact no work? If there was no work then why didnt they lay me off during my STD time? Thanks

Additional information

I worked full time for them for almost 5 years and was really only off work for 12 weeks. Wouldnt they have been legally obligated to give me FMLA? So that my job was protected? I feel like I have been mistreated and that now im a "liability" to them so now they just make up the lack of work excuse. They also employ more than 50 people. The Union hall is who paid out my STD under my health plan. It could have been either workers comp or just nature that I had the ulnar nerve entrapment but I didn't know for sure if it was a result of something at work so to try to preserve my job and not make them mad I chose the STD to find out I dont have a job.


Asked on 2/26/12, 9:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

What's your goal? FMLA is unpaid leave and preserves a job in most situations. You were released back to work so whether it was union or FMLA, your "leave" was over. If you received union benefits during the leave, you got more than the FMLA gives non-union people. Since you were "cleared" to return to work, then the leave -- FMLA or union -- seems irrelevant. But, if you are saying the contractor replaced you, that's different. But that's not what you seem to be saying. You were just laid off after you returned from leave. You'd have to look at the union rules to see if the layoff was proper. If there's more you're not saying, these thoughts could change.

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Answered on 2/27/12, 1:36 pm


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