laid off while on medical leave

i was working full time for an employer, and was having major surgery. I was taking vacation and sick time to cover the time i was going to be off. the week i was having surgery the company laid off several employees, including me. my layoff date was officially the friday following. i was paid for a few of my vacation days, but nothing else. I lost the rest of the time, plus my benefits. now i am faced with months of follow-up visits and blood work, and no insurance, unless i take cobra. thats 197.00 a month. i can't afford it, not working, and unemployment pays little. was it lawful for them to lay me off while i was taking the time off and having surgery? thanks for any advice.

struggling in nevada

[cbg]

That depends on a number of factors that you have not addressed. How big an employer was it? (# employees) How long had you worked for them? How long were you out? If you can answer these questions I should be able to answer yours.

the local employer had about 30 full time employees. there were other locations around the country that had similar or more employees and also laid off staff. about 9 were kept on full time, and senority had nothing to do with it. there were people that had been there for 5 years and they were laid off and offered part time, while others that have been there for less time were kept on full time. i had been hired in feb and was part time until june of this year. i was offered full time, so i accepted and gave up a job that i was full time at. i made more money here so i took it. so i was employed full time about 5 months. i was scheduled for surgery in early november, and elected to take vacation and sick time to cover my time off. my surgery was on the 6th and on the 9th the lay off took place. i was still in the hospital. i was paid 3 days vacation time for the next week and and nov 16th was my official day of termination.

[cbg]

By your description you would not have qualified for FMLA, and it sounds as if the layoff was a large one covering a great many people. A person who is on medical leave can be laid off; they just can't be laid off because they are on medical leave. I think you would have a very hard proving that you were selected because you were on leave if it was a large a layoff as you indicate, and it is not required that the reason for layoff follow a seniority basis. I think you're stuck.