For most any disability. No accommodation.

I've seen a similar situation where I work. (corrugation industry). A woman was pregnant and had a Drs. note forbidding overtime. The company legally deducted the overtime hours from her FMLA time and when the FMLA ran out they terminated her.

I find it hard to believe that a company could deduct time used that way from overtime hours, if the employee is working whatever the base level (usually 8 hours a day) of hours is for the job.

That's the sort of thing that needs a lawsuit. You'd probably need an attorney who'd take it on pro bono, or who'd take a portion of back pay once she was rehired. But it still needs a lawsuit.

in my 25+ years in HR, I've never come across deducting O/T from FML ... my gut tells me it's an unlawful act (unless, maybe, if the overtime were mandatory and pre-planned).

Let me research this and report back.

I checked with our resident FML guru. This is an allowable practice, though it is almost never applied because the employer, if challenged, would have to prove the overtime was, in fact, mandatory, was pre-planned and broadly required.

WOW, DU required me to learn something.

I'm under the impression that a company can require you to use up sick leave and vacation days first, but your point about protecting the job is the most important one, and that's why we finally got the FMLA.

The company does not have to pay at all for FMLA. It's unpaid leave, but the point is that one's position is protected under the law.

What you just described appears to be the exact opposite of FMLA, because there's nothing to deduct, it's unpaid. If she doesn't work the hours, she wouldn't get paid anyway.

And, the whole point of the act is to protect the position. In your examplpe, it appears they broke the law twice.

amount of time she was on the company's books. So if in total her overtime would have been 10 days worth, they reduced her FMLA time by that amount. I could be wrong.

I went back and read it after i posted. You two nailed it.

That is exactly what they did. All OT is mandatory at this company...usually with little advanced notice.

abortion is the work of Satan, so that's out. But taking that risk of having sex when she needs to stay employed, well, everyone knows having babies and a job is utterly ridiculous. This is the USA, after all, not some first world country.

HR directors are definitely the kind of person who should get between a woman and her doctor. As long as there's room for them, what with the politicians, religious leaders and insurance companies who want to get all up in there too.

Hi,

I am a lawyer specializing in this area of law. Here are a few links to consider:

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/pregnancy.cfm

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-preg.cfm

There may be a possible argument that FMLA hours could be used if the overtime was mandatory but missed.

However, nowadays pregnancy regulations treat pregnancy as something similar to disability - requiring reasonable accommodation per the above links and as cited in the NYTimes article link in the post.

Without knowing all the facts it seems to me the employer messed up.

James

because the mother can't work, all of a sudden becomes a TAKER not MAKER right? oh my bad, women should stay home, MEN should work. no shit sherlock!

Just like most of our elected officials.