An employee needs a day off and didn't ask for it off until after the schedule was posted. Our policy states that once the schedule is posted it is the employees responsibility to find someone to work for them. She is upset about this and claims it is for medical reasons and that by law we have to let her have the day off because it is for medical purposes. i told her to show me the law that states this and she said her Father told her about the law. I told her that I doubted the law even existed. She has found someone to work for her but I don't like leaving things like this twisting in the wind. Is there such a law stating an employee can get the day off because of medical purposes? She hasn't said what the "medical" reason is but I know she goes to counceling and I'm under the impression that this is what it relates to. thanks for the help!

She must be referring to the Family Medical Leave Act.

If your company does not have at least 50 employees within a 75 mile radius, you don't have to provide the leave.

If the employee has not worked for the company for 12 months (not necessarily consecutive) and if the employee has not worked at least 1250 hours in the last year, then she is not eligible for FMLA, even if the company is required to provide it to eligible employees.

IF the company has to provide it AND IF the employee is eligible, she can't simply state that she is taking time off due to medical reasons. Others more familiar with this stage of the process will explain about her needing to get a doctor's certification, etc.

Also, even under FMLA, a single day absence would not qualify unless she had previously applied for FMLA, had it approved, AND had a doctor's verification that she would need single days off from time to time.

She and her father are, quite frankly, wrong.