FMLA discrimination

[engrmom]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

I work for a company that has instituted a forced ranking system where 10% of employees receive a negative ranking each year. I recently received a poor ranking for 2002 even though I had received excellent quarterly reviews throughout the year. My supervisor was unable to list any deficits in my performance and had suggested at both the Q3 and Q4 reviews that I would be receiving a promotion. I had taken FMLA leave for the birth of a child during the year and have since learned that 65-70% of the employees in my department who have taken FMLA leave during the past few years have received a negative ranking for the year that they were on leave. Combined with the fact that I was discouraged by a manager for applying for a new position because he said "you'd just get pregnant again and go on leave and I would be without a designer", I am starting to feel that I may have a case for FMLA discrimination. Any opinion??

 

[Beth3]

Difficult to say, particularly as I don't know how valid your statistics are. Presumably they are based on a casual survey of co-workers unless you're in HR and actually have access to hard data.

Whether or not a forced distribution ranking is a good idea certainly is debatable. FMLA is required to be "invisible" in many regards and certainly cannot be taken into consideration when giving a performance evaluation or determining a merit increase. The problem with a forced distibution though is that it's a FORCED distribution and if your company is like many, staff have been cut to the bare minimum through reductions or attrition and only the most talented/most skilled employees remain (or should remain at this point.) FMLA may or may not have been an issue; completion of certain projects and meeting deadlines may have been.

I sure think what your manager said to you when he discourged you to pursue a promotion was INCREDIBLY stupid. I'm not sure all of this adds up to FMLA retalliation or gender discrimination just yet but you certainly can speak to a lawyer or contact the DOL/EEOC to discuss.

If you have a credible HR group, I might suggest a visit to them is in order before turning to a gov't agency on issues that are somewhat vague and subjective. They might be in a position to address the concerns and if "knucklehead" decisions are being made, to put a stop to them.

 

[engrmom]

The statistics are relatively easy to establish in my case. The company applies the 10% standard department by department. In our fifty person department, only ten are women. Four have taken leave in the last three years (three for child birth and one for surgery). Of those four, three have received a poor rating for the year. Specifically in my case, project goals and plans were met and my supervisor noted that all work objectives were either met or exceeded for the year. He has stated that he does not agree with the ranking and that he has asked to have it changed, but upper management has stated that it is final and that there is no appeals process. He is only allowed to submit a list of accomplishments for each person and an upper management team ranks the employees who they have no daily contact with and no insight into their work performance or areas for improvement. He has stated that my list was better than many who received a higher ranking.

If I want to contact DOE, how do I go about that?

 

[Beth3]

I think you mean Department of Labor.

Check out www.dol.gov. That ought to give you the info you need either to contact them in Washington DC or at a regional office. Good luck.