seperated from employer

[flamingo11]

What is the name of your state?california
I work for a large telephone company for 24 years & have been on disability. I was off work from May 2002 thru Dec 2002 with shoulder impingement & surgery. I returned to work and in May 2003 was off again due to carpal tunnel syndrome (with surgery) and continued shoulder problems. Workers Comp. finally approved in August 2003.(I do have a Work. Comp. Attorney) I returned to work in Nov 2003 for 13 days & had to go back on disability for the continued shoulder problems. My Docter sent me back to work March 1 half days one handed. I only worked 4 days when my right hand was swelling so Doctor took me back off work again with no keyboarding at all. All this disability time was approved as Short Term Disability. Thru the employer we are allowed 52 weeks of Short Term Disability. Then it would go into Long Term Disability along with a Following Maximum Disability leave. The FMD leave keeps your employment active but you can only have one leave throughout employment.
On March 5,04 I received a letter from the company stating I had not exhausted the 52 weeks of STD yet. In Jan. I received a letter that if I was not back to work by June 1,04 I would go into LTD. On March 11 I was told my STD should have ended Dec. 5,03 so I will be referred to LTD. My LTD Nursecaser called me March 25 and said I have been recommended for a FMD leave beings they need to change their mistake. I have been approved LTD from Dec. 5. The problem is they gave me the FMD leave on Dec. 5 and beings I returned to work March 1st I am no longer eligible for the FMD leave. I was told this on April 12,04.
I have been working hard on being able to work again and my Doctor said he would release me when I'm ready but last week I found out I have been seperated from the company and no longer am employed. I would have to go through the rehiring process and start from the beginning.
Do I have a legal case for them approving me STD and then changing the coding so they could terminate me? I have a lot at stake to lose this job!
-Linda

 

[Beth3]

What you haven't explained (as far as I can tell) is your employer's leave policy. Short-term and long-term disability benefits your employer offers operate INDEPENDENTLY of whatever medical leave your employer offers. For example, many employers have a 6-month STD benefit but offer a maximum of 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Therefore it's entirely possible an employee could be terminated after 12 weeks on leave but still continue collecting STD for another 3 months, and then receive LTD following that if they are still disabled.

What does appear apparent is that you have been absent from work for medical reasons for the majority of the past two years. Consequently it's not surprising that you have exhausted all available leave and your employer is opting to terminate you if you are not back to work by June 1st. That's not illegal.

 

[flamingo11]

Thank You for responding Beth,
I'm not sure if the company offers a different leave other than what I've written about. My question would be- Can the company go back & change the coding of my disability benefits to the FMD leave? I had already been approved STD and returned to work for 4 half days. It was after I was unable to work that H.R. caught their mistake of approving me for STD longer than the 52 weeks alloted. They had made the disability of May 2003 a brand new disability instead of a relapse. I was unaware of this. It took H.R. over a month to decide that they would code the time after STD should've ended as FMD leave and because I had returned to work (for those 4 half days) they terminated the FMD leave. The FMD leave is what keeps you as an active employee. Without the leave I am no longer an active employee and have been seperated. I don't know the difference between seperated & terminated. So by their calculation mistake it has cost me my job and the opportunity of receiving full pension benefits if I could've worked for them for appr. 2-5 more years. If they would've found their mistake before I returned to work for those 4 half days I would not be in this situation.
My workers comp. case has not been settled yet either if this makes a difference.