Please Advise

[kimmik]

Michigan,
I have a friend who works for a large national pharmacy store. She was recently transferred to a new store. She is an hourly store shift manager and is currently under a doctors care for pulled muscles, carpeltunnel(sp??) in both hands/wrists. The doctor said this is more than likely due to all the repetitive lifting and stock work she does. She has doctors orders to not do any repetitive lifting anything over 5 lbs. until 2/24/06. This all started on December 26 or 27th. There are three people that are in the same position as she is. Since this doctors note, she has been written up for not completing task requested by her manager (1st Time In 11 Years). This is the same employee that is sought out by other managers to work at their store because she is such a good worker. The manager has since cut her hours to 30 hours, refused to pay for a sick day (actually only 3 hours) and has given her all the heavy "grunt" work and has given her all the undersireable shifts. She has always maintained her work load before this and has had no more than 3 sick days in 11 years with this company.
She is considering asking for a medical leave of absence since the employer cannot seem to give her some of the lighter duties (which are available) in the store until her rehabilitation is completed. Is this achievable for her and do they have room to fire her? This is really only the tip of the iceberg. Do you think she should contact an attorney? She really has no idea what to do. If she does request a medical leave, is it through her employer or doctor?
Thank you for listening and trying to help.
Best friend in Michigan