I'm probably not even on the right forum, but wondered if anyone could answer a question about intermittent leave of absence. I took a leave of absence for a hysterectomy, and a few months later I became ill and the rhuematologist told me I have fibromyalgia. I have pain every day, but sometimes I have bad flares and cannot work. I asked the personnel manager at my job if I could have an intermittent leave of absence. My primary care physician and the rheumatologist agreed to submit the necessary paperwork for me. I am a part time employee. I was told by the personnel manager that I had to work a total of 1,250 hours ( I think that's right) that calendar year before an intermittent leave of absence could be granted. I would have met the hours required if not for the hysterectomy that I had the same year. Because I was off for 6 weeks recovering from the surgery I did not have enough hours to qualify for the intermittent LOA for the fibromyalgia. Now I'm really up a creek because I have had to greatly reduce my hours due to the fibromyalgia, and if I miss more that 3 days every 6 months I will be fired. I feel this is unfair because the one health problem (the hysterectomy) caused me to not be able to get loa for the other health problem. What even makes me more upset is that I have worked for this employer for 19 years now and have never asked for any loa. Another thing that bugs me is that an employee that had only worked there for 3 months and did not have the required hours, nor the one year of employment has been granted an intermittent loa. The hr manager said that is because the law changed after she applied for intermittent loa. I thought this law had been in effect for years. Plus, the new employee misses work whenever she is scheduled night shifts(because she doesn't want to work nights.) She is totally taking advantage of the employer. I will never be able to work the 1,250 hours required of me now because I am in so much pain I only work 18 hours a week. All I want is to be able to keep my part time job because my husband and I need my extra income too. Plus, I need to work to feel productive and to get out of the house so I don't become a hermit from the fibro. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, you are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a serious medical condition if all of the following are true:

1. The employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles of your job site.
2. You've worked for the employer more than 1 year.
3. You've worked more than 1250 hours in the past year.

While I deeply sympathize with your situation (I have myofascial pain syndrome, which can have extreme flares), if you don't meet the criteria for FMLA the employer isn't doing anything illegal. The only thing I can suggest is verifying what year the employer uses to compute FMLA eligibility; calendar year is only one of the options that an employer may use.

You may also see if requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act may help you. Additional time off or a flexible schedule can sometimes be a reasonable accommodation.