An exempt employee of a large non-Federal employer in the state of Maryland with a research position has outpatient surgery and takes that day and the next day as full days of sick leave. The sick leave days are recorded on the official time sheet. The employee has a large number of accrued sick leave days available. The supervisor calls the employee at home during the sick day the day after surgery to demand work which can be done at home on the employer-provided laptop which the employee has at home on this day. However, the employee does not have the capacity to perform the work when under the influence of pain-killing medication prescribed by the surgeon. The supervisor was aware of the surgery long ahead of time and did not give written approval or disapproval of the sick days but did give oral approval. Has the supervisor committed any illegal action by demanding work on the sick day under these circumstances, and if so, what law(s) are violated and how have courts handled cases of a similar nature?

Thanks!

Illegal, no. Inappropriate, yes.

Does this constitute a hostile work environment, or could it in combination with other incidents?

What is the criteria for an event or a series of events to be recognized as "hostile work environment"?

Thanks!

A hostile work environment exists when, and only when, the employee is subjected to either sexual harassment or illegal discrimination under Title VII and related laws (race, religion, national origin etc.). Nothing you have described would constitute an HWE.

Article on Hostile Work Enviornment. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostile_work_environment)