Legal Question in Medical Leave in Ohio

Re: Is this legal?

Based on the facts you have described, it appears that your employer is confused and wrong about your rights under the FMLA.

The FMLA permits covered workers to take time off for "serious health conditions." Workers are not entitled to time off under the FMLA unless the worker is using it to attend to a serious health condition. Whether a particular health problem arises to the level of being a serious health condition is often a complicated question.

The FMLA and the regulations that have been issued by the U.S. Department of Labor to interpret the FMLA provide different ways a person can qualify as having a "serious health condition." One way is when a person has a health problem that incapacitates the person for at least three calendar days and requires continued treatment by a health care professional. It seems your employer is focused on this definition. If it were the only definition, your employer MIGHT be correct in saying a worker has to take off at least 3 days IF it were a health problem being suffered by the worker.

Obviously, that is not your case. This is a health condition suffered by an immediate family member. So the three day requirement does not apply to you. More importantly, the FMLA also defines pregnancy and pregnancy complications as a "serious health condition." So even if your daughter is not incapacitated for 3 days, she still has a serious health condition while she is dealing with her pregnancy.

In addition, the FMLA also recognizes that a seriosu health condition can be "intermittent." For intermittent serious health conditions, the worker is entitled to take FMLA time off in increments as small as the smallest unit of time the employer uses to track hours worked. So if your employer docks pay for every 6 minutes a worker might be late to work, all employees who qualify for FMLA leave can take as little as 6 minutes off from work to attend to an intermittent serious health condition.

For more information, go to the U.S. Department of Labor website at www.dol.gov. If your employer takes any adverse action against you because you are taking time to be with your daughter, you should consult directly with an attorney. This information I have given you here is very general. It is not legal advice. For good legal advice concerning any employment problem, you need to speak directly to an attorney who can ask you specific questions and get specific answers to give you informed advice.