Termination while on FMLA/short term disability

[patches]

I worked in MI. My situation - I was off on FMLA/short term disability. My employer called me in for a meeting and told me I was terminated. Reason - I pointed out. I was not aware that my FMLA had run out, so when I missed the day after, it gave me a point which put me over the 8 allowed. However, I have paperwork that I printed from our intranet site back in Sept. that shows my point standings as being different than the printout that they gave me on date of discharge. Someone (management) went into the system and changed the points for days I was absent. Ex: Printout I have reads .5 for a particular day, printout I received reads 1 point. Another day, my printout reads 1 point, printout from employer reads 1.5 points, thus making my points higher, so I pointed out. Also, they stated that I violated company policy by getting 2 final warnings within a 12 month period. Why did they not fire me 2 months ago, when I received the 2nd final warning. Finally, company handbook states, "upon termination of employment for any reason, whether voluntary or involuntary, employees shall be entitled to vacation pay for any vacation time which is earned, but unused, at the time of termination". According to HR, I am not eligible for this vacation time because I did not work any in 2006, because I was off on disability. And, as an added note: They are also allowing me to continue with short term disability benefits until no longer needed or 26 weeks, whichever comes first. When I exhaust my disability benefits, will I be eligible to sign up for unemployment? What is your take on all of this? Thanks for your time.

[cbg]

How much time, total, have you missed in the last 12 months? How much of it was covered by FMLA? When was your 12 weeks of FMLA up and when did you actually return to work?

[patches]

Thanks for a prompt reply. I was away from my job, January - December 2005, 91 1/2 days. Included in this total is: absences with doctors note, vacations, personal day, others, and FMLA. The total amount of days covered by FMLA was 42. According to employer, my last day of FMLA was January 26, 2006. I had not returned to work yet, I was still off on STD.

[cbg]

You missed 91 and a half days in a calendar year? And you claim only 42 of them were FMLA? Boy, I don't blame your employer for being pissed.

How is it that out of that more than 3 months off, less than half of them were protected? What were the rest of them? Numbers, please; how many vacation, how many personal etc.

NOTE: A doctor's note has no force in law unless FMLA is involved. Your employer has no obligation whatsoever under the law to excuse an absences simply because you provide a doctor's note.

[patches]

Once again, thanks for the reply. YEP, 91 1/2 days in a calendar year! I had 11 vacation days, 1 personal day, 11 other, (July 4th shutdown & lack of work). Those were all protected days off. I had 26 1/2 absenses, which results in 6.5 points. I am very well aware that doctors notes do not protect me, unless under FMLA, but it does keep the point to 1- regardless of the number of days absent under that doctors note. As I stated in my 1st post, they changed a couple of days - 4 months later - to reflect me having 8 points, which resulted in termination. But, I have the real printout as far as my absenses/points are concerned before they made any changes.

[cbg]

Surprisingly enough, vacation and personal days are NOT protected days off. They may be granted you by company policy, but no law gives you a guaranteed right to them, which is what is meant, legally, by "protected".

26.5 absences is MORE that enough to justify terming you, regardless of how many points you're claiming. You can contact the US DOL and see if they think you've got a FMLA violation, but if I were you in my next job I'd see if I couldn't manage to be on the job a bit more. If you do have any kind of case it's going to be on a technicality, and I don't blame ANY employer for firing someone whose missed that much time.

[patches]

What I was referring to as "protected", they cannot give me a point when these days (vacation/personal) are used! Pardon me, but I can't help it if I have medical conditions going on in my life!! Therefore, I will continue to miss whatever days may be necessary. On an added note, I have already found new employment, starting out making 86 cents less per hour than what it took me 5 1/2 years to earn at my previous employer. Anyhow, thanks for your time to reply to my situation.