Fmla question.....

[turnman11]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio


I have a question regarding FMLA. I know that I have scoliosis. I have never had any back issues at all to my knowledge until about the age of 29-30. I am 37 now. I started to get really bad pains and could not get into to see my doctor so I went to an Urgent Care. They took X-Rays and told me I had scoliosis which I knew and told me I needed to go see a specialist. I went to see a specialist but that was 4 days later and by then the pain was gone. Now I get about 6 or 7 episodes a year. The first few days are usually very pain and then maybe 1 or 2 more days of mild pain I can work thru. Well now I work in a physical enviroment when I am no longer sitting but lifting a lot. I work in a union shop and we are only allowed 9 absences a year. So when I get epsidodes now I have days where I cant work thru it. Will I qualify for FMLA I don't want to lose my job?

[NLW]

Possibly. Take a look at this information - it may answer your questions.

[url]http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf[/url]


If you aren't sure, you should talk to your Union Rep.

[cbg]

There are four eligibility criteria for FMLA. ALL of them must be met.

1.) Your employer must have a minimum of 50 employees within 75 miles of your location.

2.) You must have worked for this employer for a minimum of 12 months.

3.) In the 12 months immediately preceding your leave, you must have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours

4.) You (or a qualified beneficiary) must have a serious health condition as defined by the statute.

If all four criteria are met, FMLA applies. If even one of the four criteria is not met, FMLA does not apply.

[ecmst12]

You can apply for intermittent FMLA and I don't see why you wouldn't qualify. It allows you to take up to 12 weeks per rolling 12 month period without fear of repercussion.

However you really should consider another line of work. Your scoliosis predisposes you to degenerative spine conditions, and working in a job like this is only going to accelerate the degeneration. You only get one spine and once the problems start, they pretty much never get better, only worse. Even the various surgeries available have a limited success rate, and at best can only stop or slow the progression. You should be doing everything you can to protect your spine from further damage, and a job requiring lots of physical activity and heavy lifting is exactly the opposite of that.

[cbg]

I don't see why you wouldn't qualify.

You mean, I don't see why you wouldn't qualify as long as you meet the eligibility criteria, right?