There are multiple situations you may experience in life for which your employer is required to give you leave. Employers are not allowed to discipline or terminate an employee to prevent them from taking leave or, after returning to work, because they have taken protected leave.
Oklahoma’s Anti-Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act each provide protections for leave in different situations.
+ Protected Reasons for Leave
All three statutes protect leave from work due to your own serious health condition, provided that the health condition is not transitory and minor. Even small amounts of leave over a period of time, such as leave for doctor’s appointments, are protected if they are for your own serious health condition.
Additionally, there are circumstances when your leave for your own or a spouse’s pregnancy, to care for the serious illness of someone who depends on you, or adoption of a child may be protected.
+ Certifications
Your employer is allowed to ask for medical verification of your condition, including asking for a note showing you were on leave for a medical reason, or to verify that your medical condition qualifies for protection. You must be given sufficient time to obtain the certification from your doctor.
+ The FMLA
The FMLA requires employers to provide up to twelve (12) weeks of leave each year to qualified employees for their own serious health condition, birth of a child, adoption, caring of an immediate family member with a serious health condition, or certain circumstances which arise due to an immediate family member being called to active duty in the military.
+ Medical Releases and Restrictions
Your employer may require you to obtain a release from your physician prior to returning you to your original position. You should work with your doctor to review your job duties to determine whether you can return to all of them, with or without restrictions.
If your doctor gives you restrictions, then you should ask your employer to help you meet those restrictions to perform your job. For example, providing equipment, modifying work schedules, modifying equipment, providing training, or even transferring to an open position elsewhere, can all be accommodations your employer must provide, so long as they do not pose an undue hardship.