Lawyers for Wrongful Termination Due to Family Medical Leave Serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, and Ventura Counties

Protecting Your Rights Under FMLA and CFRA

In California, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) offer crucial protections for employees needing to take medical leave from work. Unfortunately, some employees face retaliation, including wrongful termination, for exercising their right to medical leave. The Akopyan Law Firm, A.P.C. is dedicated to safeguarding your rights and providing top notch legal representation if you’ve experienced wrongful termination due to family medical leave.

What Are FMLA and CFRA?

The FMLA is a federal law that allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for specific family and medical reasons. The CFRA is a California law that mirrors the FMLA but offers additional protections. Both laws ensure that employees can take necessary leave without the fear of losing their jobs.

Protected Reasons for Leave

Under the FMLA and CFRA, employees are entitled to take leave for various reasons, including:

The birth and care of a newborn child
Adoption or foster care placement of a child
Caring for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition
The employee’s own serious health condition that makes them unable to perform their job

Understanding Wrongful Termination Due to Medical Leave

Wrongful termination occurs when an employer fires an employee for exercising their legal rights, such as taking protected medical leave. If you’ve faced wrongful job termination due to medical leave, wrongful dismissal due to medical leave, wrongful discharge due to medical leave, wrongful firing due to medical leave, unlawful termination due to medical leave, or unjust firing due to medical leave, you have legal recourse under California law.

Legal Protections for Employees

FMLA and CFRA Protections

Both FMLA and CFRA prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for taking protected medical leave. This includes termination, demotion, or other forms of discrimination against employees exercising their right to leave.

Retaliation Claims

If you believe you’ve been wrongfully terminated due to taking medical leave, you can file a retaliation claim against your employer. This involves proving that your termination was directly related to your use of protected leave.

Right to Reinstatement

Employees who take leave under FMLA or CFRA are entitled to be reinstated to their original job or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions upon their return from leave.

Remedies for Wrongful Termination

Employees who prevail in a wrongful termination case may be entitled to various remedies, including reinstatement, back pay, compensatory damages, and attorney’s fees.

How to Protect Your Rights

Understand Your Rights

Familiarize yourself with the provisions of FMLA and CFRA, including eligibility requirements and specific protections they offer. Knowing your rights is the first step in protecting yourself against retaliation.

Document Everything

Keep detailed records of your medical leave, including communications with your employer, medical documentation, and any instances of retaliation or discrimination. This documentation can be crucial evidence in a wrongful termination case.

Seek Legal Counsel

If you believe you’ve been wrongfully terminated due to taking medical leave, consult with an employment attorney specializing in wrongful termination cases. They can assess your situation, advise you on your legal options, and help you navigate the process of filing a claim.

Contact Us When You Need an Employment Law Attorney for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, or Ventura Counties

Wrongful termination due to family medical leave is a serious violation of employee rights under both federal and state laws. If you’ve faced wrongful job termination due to medical leave, wrongful dismissal due to medical leave, wrongful discharge due to medical leave, wrongful firing due to medical leave, unlawful termination due to medical leave, or unjust firing due to medical leave, our experienced attorneys are here to help. Call us today at (818) 509-9975 or contact us online to schedule a complimentary case evaluation. We have experience in all aspects of employment law, including wrongful dismissal for family medical leave.

Featured Wrongful Termination Due To Family Medical Leave Case

Nevada Dep’t of Hum. Res. v. Hibbs, (2003) 538 U.S. 721

Respondent Hibbs an employee of the Nevada Department of Human Resources (Department), sought leave to care for his ailing wife under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which entitles an eligible employee to take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave annually for the onset of a “serious health condition” in the employee’s spouse and for other reasons, 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a)(1)(C). The Department granted respondent’s request for the full 12 weeks of FMLA leave, but eventually informed him that he had exhausted that leave and that he must report to work by a certain date. Respondent failed to do so and was terminated. Pursuant to FMLA provisions creating a private right of action to seek both equitable relief and money damages “against any employer (including a public agency),” § 2617(a)(2), that “interfere[d] with, restrain[ed], or den[ied] the exercise of” FMLA rights, § 2615(a)(1), respondent sued petitioners, the Department and two of its officers, in Federal District Court seeking damages and injunctive and declaratory relief for, inter alia, violations of § 2612(a)(1)(C). The court awarded petitioners summary judgment on the grounds that the FMLA claim was barred by the Eleventh Amendment and that respondent’s Fourteenth Amendment rights had not been violated. The Ninth Circuit reversed.

The United States Supreme Court held as follows: State employees may recover money damages in federal court in the event of the State’s failure to comply with the FMLA’s family-care provision. Congress may abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit in federal court if it makes its intention to abrogate unmistakably clear in the language of the statute and acts pursuant to a valid exercise of its power under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The FMLA satisfies the clear statement rule. Congress also acted within its authority under § 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment when it sought to abrogate the States’ immunity for purposes of the FMLA’s family-leave provision. In the exercise of its § 5 power, Congress may enact so-called prophylactic legislation that proscribes facially constitutional conduct in order to prevent and deter unconstitutional conduct but it may not attempt to substantively redefine the States’ legal obligations. The test for distinguishing appropriate prophylactic legislation from substantive redefinition is that valid § 5 legislation must exhibit “congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end.” The FMLA aims to protect the right to be free from gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Statutory classifications that distinguish between males and females are subject to heightened scrutiny, i.e., they must “serv[e] important governmental objectives,” and “the discriminatory means employed [must be] substantially related to the achievement of those objectives”. When it enacted the FMLA, Congress had before it significant evidence of a long and extensive history of sex discrimination with respect to the administration of leave benefits by the States, which is weighty enough to justify the enactment of prophylactic § 5 legislation. Here, because the standard for demonstrating the constitutionality of a gender-based classification is more difficult to meet than the rational-basis test, it was easier for Congress to show a pattern of state constitutional violations. The impact of the discrimination targeted by the FMLA, which is based on mutually reinforcing stereotypes that only women are responsible for family caregiving and that men lack domestic responsibilities, is significant. Moreover, Congress’ chosen remedy, the FMLA’s family-care provision, is “congruent and proportional to the targeted violation,”Congress had already tried unsuccessfully to address this problem through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Where previous legislative attempts have failed, such problems may justify added prophylactic measures in response. By creating an across-the-board, routine employment benefit for all eligible employees, Congress sought to ensure that family-care leave would no longer be stigmatized as an inordinate drain on the workplace caused by female employees, and that employers could not evade leave obligations simply by hiring men. Unlike the statutes at issue in City of Boerne, Kimel, and Garrett, which applied broadly to every aspect of state employers’ operations, the FMLA is narrowly targeted at the faultline between work and family—precisely where sex-based overgeneralization has been and remains strongest—and affects only one aspect of the employment relationship. Also significant are the many other limitations that Congress placed on the FMLA’s scope. For example, the FMLA requires only unpaid leave, § 2612(a)(1); applies only to employees who have worked for the employer for at least one year and provided 1,250 hours of service within the last 12 months, § 2611(2)(A); and does not apply to employees in high-ranking or sensitive positions, including state elected officials, their staffs, and appointed policymakers, §§ 2611(2)(B)(i) and (3), 203(e)(2)(C). Pp. 1976–1984.

Areas Served

The litigation and trial attorneys of the Akopyan Law Firm, A.P.C. provide services throughout Southern California including but not limited to Adelanto, Agoura Hills, Alhambra, Aliso Viejo, Altadena, Anaheim, Apple Valley, Arcadia, Arleta, Atwater Village, Azuza, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Banning, Beaumont, Bell, Bell Gardens, Bellflower, Beverly Hills, Blythe, Boyle Heights, Brea, Brentwood, Buena Park, Burbank, Calabasas, Calimesa, Camarillo, Canoga Park, Canyon Lake, Carson, Cathedral City, Cerritos, Chatsworth, Chino Hills, Chino, Claremont, Coachella, Colton, Compton, Costa Mesa, Corona, Covina, Culver City, Cypress, Dana Point, Desert Hot Springs, Diamond Bar, Downey, Duarte, Eagle Rock, East Hollywood, East Los Angeles, Eastvale, Echo Park, El Monte, El Segundo, El Sereno, Encino, Fontana, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Gardena, Garden Grove, Glassell Park, Glendale, Glendora, Granada Hills, Hacienda Heights, Hawthorne, Hemet, Hesperia, Highland Park, Highland, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Huntington Beach, Huntington Park, Indian Wells, Indio, Inglewood, Irvine, Jurupa Valley, La Canada Flintridge, La-Crescenta Montrose, La Habra, La Mirada, La Palma, La Puente, La Quinta, La Verne, Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lakewood, Lake Balboa, Lake Elsinore, Lake Forest, Lancaster, Lawndale, Lincoln Heights, Loma Linda, Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Lynwood, Manhattan Beach, Mar Vista, Maywood, Menifee, Mission Hills, Mission Viejo, Monrovia, Montclair, Montebello, Monterey Park, Moorpark, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Newbury Park, Newhall, Newport Beach, Norco, North Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, Norwalk, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Pacific Palisades, Pacoima, Palos Verdes, Palmdale, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Panorama City, Paramount, Pasadena, Perris, Pico Rivera, Placentia, Pomona, Porter Ranch, Rancho Cucamonga, Rancho Mirage, Rancho Santa Margarita, Redondo Beach, Reseda, Rialto, Riverside, Rosemead, Rowland Heights, San Bernardino, San Clemente, San Dimas, San Gabriel, San Fernando, San Jacinto, San Juan Capistrano, San Pedro, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Sawtelle, Seal Beach, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Simi Valley, South El Monte, South Gate, South Pasadena, South Whittier, Stanton, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Tarzana, Temecula, Temple City, Thousand Oaks, Toluca Lake, Torrance, Tujunga, Tustin, Twentynine Palms, Upland, Valencia, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Van Nuys, Ventura, Victorville, Walnut, West Covina, West Hills, West Hollywood, West Puente Valley, Westchester, Westminster, Westwood, Whittier, Wildomar, Winnetka, Woodland Hills, Yorba Linda