Medical leave - Rehab - Help!

[mallory0310]

If an employee of a small medical practice (under 50 employees) seeks help from an inpatient rehab facility, is it legal for the employer to threaten that if the therapist from the facility does not supply the employer with weekly updates that the employer will not hold the employee's job and stop paying the health insurance that is covering the inpatient treatment? The treatment program is 45 days at a California treatment center, and the employer is in Delaware.

 

[cbg]

Since there are under 50 employees, FMLA does not apply and there is no job protection from that quarter.

If there are over 15 employees the ADA applies. However, I do not believe the employer can dictate that the therapist contact them. They CAN require periodic updates, and I don't think weekly is unreasonable. But I question whether the EEOC would agree that the employee is required to allow the therapist to discuss his treatment with the employer. A short leave can be considered a reasonable accommodation and 45 days is within short.

The employer absolutely cannot turn off the health insurance unless the employee is actually terminated, and even then if there are more than (in this case) 20 employees, the employee would be eligible for COBRA.

Now, that is what the employer can DO. What the employer can THREATEN is another story.

Delaware law is what applies here.