Legal Question in Medical Leave in Maryland

Re: Can I call a friend/employee

Frankly your HR appears to not know what it is doing. They

have an obligation to you to find out about the health of the individual as this

directly impacts your ability to take a vacation, which you may need to plan. The FMLA does

not prohibit HR from inquiring as to overall matters such as when the individual will be returning to work.

Their inquiry is not permitted insofar as it gets into personal medical matters. You should not need to contact the individual

as HR should have done this. If anyone is being berated, it is you. Simply tell them that you would like to schedule vacation and the

obvious matters will present themselves for HR to work out. You should know that Maryland's law is "at-will" employment and without a contract, or other

relationship, you can be let go. So do not become overly forceful with your vacation issue but clearly this is the time of year that people make vacation plans and rooms need to be rented, plane tickets purchased, etc.