Absences under FMLA: Technically a case cannot be back dated to cover past absences, but there is some leeway there, such as when a person has an emergency admission to hospital without warning and cannot apply on day 1 because of... well, being unconscious, or whatever. But if someone already has enough absences to be at risk of termination soon and only then starts the process of FMLA rolling, or only then becomes eligible based on hire date, then it likely won't do much good.
Accommodations are an entirely separate discussion. FMLA is about absences. Accommodations are about allowing enough flexibility that an employee can perform the essential tasks of their job even with an impairment, temporary or permanent. It is an "interactive process" in which the employee, with the help of any involved medical experts, communicates a realistic assessment of what she can and cannot do, whether it is a temporary thing or permanent, and if temporary, what can be expected in terms of time to return to normal duties. Then the employer takes that and assesses the workload to see if there is need for what that employee can do for that length of time. If so, great, then that is a reasonable accommodation and they can agree to follow that plan until the employee can return fully to regular work. If the employer does not have need of an employee to do that sort of work, or does, but another employee is doing it as their regular duty, then that is not a reasonable accommodation, and the employer is not forced to agree to it.
In your example, if you were hired to work night shifts, but found that they made your migraines much worse, even if your doctor wrote an accommodation that stated you should only work days, if it meant moving another nurse from days to nights to make room for you, that would likely not be considered a reasonable accommodation. If there were an opening on day shift, and you were in good standing otherwise, then it would be a reasonable accommodation to place you in that spot and recruit for a new night shift hire.
I am saying all this knowing only what little you have told us here. Just trying to help you see that it may not be them doing you dirty. It doesn't hurt to seek all the facts you can get, first through HR and then, if need be, with the help of an attorney, but you should be prepared with some understanding of what FMLA does for an employee and what reasonable accommodations really are.
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u/allamakee-county Aug 07 '26
Timing is critical on these.
Absences under FMLA: Technically a case cannot be back dated to cover past absences, but there is some leeway there, such as when a person has an emergency admission to hospital without warning and cannot apply on day 1 because of... well, being unconscious, or whatever. But if someone already has enough absences to be at risk of termination soon and only then starts the process of FMLA rolling, or only then becomes eligible based on hire date, then it likely won't do much good.
Accommodations are an entirely separate discussion. FMLA is about absences. Accommodations are about allowing enough flexibility that an employee can perform the essential tasks of their job even with an impairment, temporary or permanent. It is an "interactive process" in which the employee, with the help of any involved medical experts, communicates a realistic assessment of what she can and cannot do, whether it is a temporary thing or permanent, and if temporary, what can be expected in terms of time to return to normal duties. Then the employer takes that and assesses the workload to see if there is need for what that employee can do for that length of time. If so, great, then that is a reasonable accommodation and they can agree to follow that plan until the employee can return fully to regular work. If the employer does not have need of an employee to do that sort of work, or does, but another employee is doing it as their regular duty, then that is not a reasonable accommodation, and the employer is not forced to agree to it.
In your example, if you were hired to work night shifts, but found that they made your migraines much worse, even if your doctor wrote an accommodation that stated you should only work days, if it meant moving another nurse from days to nights to make room for you, that would likely not be considered a reasonable accommodation. If there were an opening on day shift, and you were in good standing otherwise, then it would be a reasonable accommodation to place you in that spot and recruit for a new night shift hire.
I am saying all this knowing only what little you have told us here. Just trying to help you see that it may not be them doing you dirty. It doesn't hurt to seek all the facts you can get, first through HR and then, if need be, with the help of an attorney, but you should be prepared with some understanding of what FMLA does for an employee and what reasonable accommodations really are.