My fiance was injured off the job on May 25th. We just got home from his employer (county government job) and he was told his FMLA is almost up. Prior to this injury he suffered 2 separate workman's comp injuries and also had pneumonia in the last year.

Does FMLA only cover 12 weeks total in a year's time? Does it include time off for workman's comp injuries? Is it unpaid leave only or does the 12 weeks include use of vacation and sick time.

His employer also told him his doctor must give a date he can return to full duty when we go to the doctor tomorrow. As of right now he is completely non-weight bearing on the injured foot and will have to have a second surgery to remove the pins the doctor inserted to stabilize the original injury. The second surgery isn't even scheduled at this time. It will probably be 6-8 weeks or more from now.

Any information offered will be greatly appreciated.

FMLA is 12 weeks total per year. Not per incident. Work injuries are not exempt. Neither is time off covered by paid leave. How many weeks has he been off total this year?

His employer *may* offer additional leave if they choose but that is totally up to them. Same if he is in a union. There may be additional leave available but it isn't the result of federal law or even state law.

Yes his employer can ask for information regarding how long he is ecpected to be out. If this is his 4th lengthy absence this year, they probably need to make arrangements to cover his job.

Since it is only 12 weeks total, I'm sure he has used up the majority of this time in the last 12 months. He does the same job as 75 other people so they need to cover his shift, not hire a temp or something to cover a specialty position.

We have a donation program where other employees can donate leave time to others who are out and out of time. I'm wondering if he has time on the books if they can release him from his job.

Well, I guess we'll have to muddle along the best we can. Hopefully we can get him back on a light-duty assignment and that will take care of most of these issues.

Thanks again for providing some answers. :)

If the employer is willing to give a little additional leave time over and above FMLA, they may. However, being paid, even from donated vacation time, is not going to legally protect his job.