Can my mother's workplace legally do this?

[Dakota_Lynn]

I really need some advice here! My mother is 61 and needs to have both her knees replaced. She will be out of work for 4 to 6 weeks. She has tons of sick pay accumulated because she never calls out sick, so her sick pay should cover all of it. However, when my mum told her boss that she would need time out starting on July 11th, the boss refused to allow her the time off! She said that “all vacation time for July was cancelled because a manager quit.” Vacation? Yikes! Since when is knee replacement surgery a vacation? The thing is, my mum is in a lot of pain and needs the surgery. She has been putting it off because her work place doesn’t have enough people in management (she’s also on the management team) but the thing is, they are doing nothing to hire more people! She has waited for several months and can’t wait any longer. She is relying on vicodin to get her through her workday and to deal with the pain at night. She can’t put this off until October which is when her boss wants her to do it!


So my question is this: Can they legally force her to wait? And can they actually fire somebody who has worked hard for the company for 14 years because she needs surgery? Thanks for your help and input. I’ll print out your answers for my mum, who I am sure would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer!

 

[Virgo10]

I don't know about the legality but what a rotten thing to do to your poor mother. Hope someone here can give you advise or maybe she could get some input from a lawyer.

to your Mom.

 

[mamacatnv]

If the company she works for is large enough to qualify her for the FMLA - Family Medical Leave Act she should be able to request that. I am not sure of all the technicalities of FMLA but her local State Labor Board should be able to help her.

If I was her, I would start with the HR Dept. where she works. HR's job is to protect the company from the stupid actions of other employees or management. They should be well versed in the laws in the state of WA. Sorry, I am in NV and can't help in detail, but I agree, shame on her manager for being such a putzzzzz!

Good Luck with this and let us know how it proceeds along, I would be curios to know.

 

[Jrsy Boy]

I would suggest getting the doctor to write a letter indicating that the surgery is necessary ASAP and providing a copy not only to the boss, but to human resources as well. Then should they try and fire her for missing work, she would have an unlawful termination lawsuit...or at least the threat of one.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

If the company she works for is large enough to qualify her for the FMLA - Family Medical Leave Act she should be able to request that. I am not sure of all the technicalities of FMLA but her local State Labor Board should be able to help her.

If I was her, I would start with the HR Dept. where she works. HR's job is to protect the company from the stupid actions of other employees or management. They should be well versed in the laws in the state of WA. Sorry, I am in NV and can't help in detail, but I agree, shame on her manager for being such a putzzzzz!

Good Luck with this and let us know how it proceeds along, I would be curios to know.

The company is very large. There are hundreds of stores around the country so that shouldn't be an issue. However, the HP person for her region just quit! So I have no idea if there is somebody else she can go to. Certainly there must be and I will definitely pass that suggestion on to her! Thank you and yes, I'll update this thread when we know what the outcome will be!

I should add that my mother's job is not a desk job. She is on her feet eight hours a day and she works very hard! She can't make it until October. No way!

Virgo10; thanks for your kind words! Yeah, I do agree that a lawyer would be helpful! Good idea!

 

[huckster]

FMLA will qualify for her and she needs to get to HR dept and report this ,
they can not threaten your job due to illness. been there myself..
she really needs to file a claim. good luck

 

[Honu]

A lawyer isn't needed at this point. She needs to tell her employer that her doctor is placing her on a medical leave for surgery and she needs to ask about her company's disability coverage. This is not vacation and she shouldn't have to burn through all her accrued time to cover it.

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

A lawyer isn't needed at this point. She needs to tell her employer that her doctor is placing her on a medical leave for surgery and she needs to ask about her company's disability coverage. This is not vacation and she shouldn't have to burn through all her accrued time to cover it.

Good points! Her boss is quite naive and very unreasonable in her ignorance. My guess is that when my mum calls HR this whole situation will be set straight in no time. I just did a google search on the Family and Medical Leave Act and she does qualify. There is a question and answer section that told me everything I needed to know!

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I'm sure that my mother will feel a LOT better. She had called me during her lunch break to tell me all this and she was so upset. So I just wanted to get some advice for her and hopefully make her feel better. How rotten to need surgery (like that isn't scary enough!) and have to put up with unreasonable demands at her workplace at the same time.

Thanks again everybody!

 

[sajetto]

I just wanted to say that my mother too, must have both of her knees replaced and I would be furious if this happend to her

Somone needs to give her boss a wake up call. I know you must be so worried about her

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

I just wanted to say that my mother too, must have both of her knees replaced and I would be furious if this happend to her

Somone needs to give her boss a wake up call. I know you must be so worried about her

Oh yeah, I am worried! I love my mum a LOT and she is all the family I have except for my daughter. So I'm very nervous about this surgery. It makes me livid that her boss is giving her a hard time about this! This is the last thing we need right now!

Good luck to your mother! When is she going to have her surgery done?

 

[sajetto]

Good luck to your mother! When is she going to have her surgery done?

She's putting hers off till August but I begged her to do it sooner. It depresses me to see her hobble around the way she does. Her knees have deteriorated so much that the knee caps are flopped over to the sides. It looks awful and I'm sure it feels even worse. She has osteoporosis so it doesn't help the situation at all.

I can't believe your mother's boss is being this way. Is she so clueless that she does not realize how serious the surgery is?

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

She's putting hers off till August but I begged her to do it sooner. It depresses me to see her hobble around the way she does. Her knees have deteriorated so much that the knee caps are flopped over to the sides. It looks awful and I'm sure it feels even worse. She has osteoporosis so it doesn't help the situation at all.

I can't believe your mother's boss is being this way. Is she so clueless that she does not realize how serious the surgery is?

Oh, I sure know how you feel. It's not easy to see those you love in so much pain. It seems as though the conditions that lead to the need for this surgery come about so gradually, I don't think they know just how bad it is until they actually have it fixed. Like you, I kept wishing my mother would just go ahead and do it and she kept telling me she would do it "when it was bad enough." Yikes! Based on watching her hobble around and grimmace in pain, it sure looked to me like it was bad enough for the last five years! Ugh!

Well anyway, I wish you and your mother the very best! Please post on the board in August and let us know how it goes, ok? And if you want to talk, feel free to PM me as I'll have gone through it with my own mum by then.

 

[justplaingoofy]

I am soooo sorry to hear this. And unfortunately, I cannot answer this for you. I can only tell you that my husband is only in his mid forties, great shape, but needed knee surgery too.
They didn't want to do it because he is so young. There is a series of injections that they can give... Its called Hyalgan and it is an injection in the knee joint, one weekly for 5 weeks. Most insurances cover it and he had them over a year ago and is doing great! He did not have any side effects and not sure if there are any but it may help so that she could hold off on the surgery. 61 is pretty young to have this done. You may want to run this by her orthopedist.

Good luck to you and your mom