Legal Question in Medical Leave in Virginia

Re: Sick Leave leading to termination

Yup, quite legal and permissible in the employment-at-will jurisdiction known as the Commonwealth of Virginia where employees often overestimate the rights and protections afforded them under the law, which are, in reality, quite few.

Re: Sick Leave leading to termination

Addendum to previous answer: To ensure that there is no confusion since this question is posed

under the Family and Medical Leave Act(FMLA), my previous answer applies only to sick leave which the company offers on its own as part of its employee benefit package and does not refer to leave approved and taken under the federal FMLA.

An employee who takes the latter type of leave is specifically protected under the federal statute

from retaliatory termination by the employer for having taken this kind of leave. Unfortunately, this type of protection does not extend to the garden variety sick leave which the questioner is, apparently, referring to and, which employers in the Commonwealth are not even obligated under law to provide.