fmla demotion of middle manager

mag pie

i was recently asked to sit in on an employee discussion. a middle manager recently came back from fmla. this person was demoted from the position and given a position similar to her previous subordinate. the supervisor to the middle manager stated that she had not worked 40 hours in a week. the manger over the supervisor stated he was flattening out the business organization. he stated that he needed to treat his employees farly and consistently while at the same time balance the needs of the business. he told her he needed a good attender and that was what he was looking for. she has not used any fmla 2002 until this period of time beginning december 20 and ending 1/2/2003. she had taken a 30 day personal leave of absence that was requested and granted by her manager in august for religious missionary work. her manager also told her he did not think she should travel on business for the company as she may get sick for a meeteing she was invited to in fall 2002 having him go in her place. she is 50 years old, and has breast cancer. i am concerned that she may file a discrimination claim. she was demoted a grade and salry given at the top of that range. at no time previous to this meeting had she been counseled for her absences. in fact her manager wrote e-mails and stated for her to do what is necessary, but to remember to inform the team. could she successfully file a claim against our company for any type of dicrimination and unfair treatment during her fmla. 95% of the discussion was specific to her attendance and her need to be able to use std/ltd more successfully as a regualr employee for the company and not be in management. her manager stated that the department would then better be able to accomplish division goals and objectives with him taking on her role.

LindaS

My understanding is that this manager had good attendance until recently wherein she began using FMLA for which she qualified for, correct? This being the case I would say that YES there is reason for you to be concerned. FMLA states that a person is to be returned to either their former position or a position equal in terms of conditions, pay, responsibilities, etc. upon return from leave. It looks like she used only about 3 weeks of the 12 she is allowed under the law so she is still protected. Unless there is something I'm missing, my advice to you is to talk to your supervisor, advise him of the law and fix the error before a lawsuit is filed.

Gillian

The first discussion should have been with you given that demotions/counseling are HR issues and because of the circumstances. Had this occured you would have had the opportunity to research this issue and find out that yes, there is a problem. Then, maybe, a better decision would have been made. Your management needs to decide whether to reverse the decision or accept the potential liability that the decision presents. That decision is a management one. The right thing to do, of course, is to reverse the decision.