Many employees, especially from smaller companies, do not understand what rights they have to time off from work due to being sick, injured or needing to care for a family member.  In fact, there are penalties against companies that do not properly inform employees of their medical leave rights or if the company does not allow leave or fails to put an employee back to work.  There may be several types of rights to medical leave from work.  One is from the sick leave policy of a company.  Another may be from State laws – which do not exist in Nevada.  The third is from a Federal law entitled the Family and Medical Leave Act, often abbreviated as the FMLA.  If an employee does not have rights to leave under the FMLA, then the company’s sick leave policy may be the only rights an employee has.  Reno, Nevada Family and Medical Leave Act Attorney Carson City, Las Vegas, Sparks lawyer.
There are many parts to the FMLA that is too involved to be discussed here, but in general it is an employee friendly law and a heavy burden is placed on the company to be aware of the FMLA requirements and to inform its employees of their rights.  Employees have FMLA rights even if they don’t know how to properly ask for the leave.  So if anything ever seems unfair, an attorney that is very knowledgeable with FMLA leave should be contacted - especially since the FMLA can get complicated. 

To be eligible for FMLA leave, the company must be large enough so it can absorb any leave taken.  The government requires that the company have 50 employees working within a 75 mile radius.  The employee must also have worked for the company for at least one year for at least 1250 hours – which averages to about 24 hours per week.  So most part time employees are eligible for FMLA leave.  Nevada Family Medical Leave Act lawyer and attorney in Reno, Sparks, Carson City and Las Vegas.
Not all types of illnesses are eligible for FMLA leave.  Being sick with a cold is not enough.  Instead it must be more serious.  In general the employee must either be placed in a hospital or not be able to work for 3 or more days, but this is not always required.  Leave is also available if necessary to care for a family member.  Pregnancy and maternity leave may also be covered by the FMLA.  Additionally, intermittent leave is available for medical conditions such as the need for dialysis or fibromyalgia.

A company must give FMLA leave to any employee it knows may need leave.  It is the obligation of the employee to inform the company if there is some medical reason they are unable to work.  Just saying you are sick may not be enough, but saying you in a car accident and had to go to the hospital may be enough.  Often employees aren’t knowledgeable with the FMLA and so they do not ask for it, but instead say what has happened to them.  This puts an obligation on the company to inquire further if they get enough information that the employee might be covered under the FMLA.  The company must then inform the employee one way or the other whether or not they are entitled to FMLA leave.  If the employee knows leave will be needed in the future such as for planned surgery, then the employee must give the company as much notice as possible and 30 days notice when possible.  Las Vegas, Nevada Family and Medical Leave Act Sparks, Reno, and Carson.

An employee is allowed to have 12 weeks of leave per year and in some limited instances even more time than 12 weeks.  During this leave, there may be certain obligations put on the employee such as keeping the company informed of their continued need for leave.  Once leave is over, an employee is entitled to have their job back or at least an equivalent job.  If the employee is not given their job back, then the employee may file a lawsuit and the company may have to pay double wages the employee would have earned not to mention court costs.  Sparks Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) lawyer attorney for Reno, Nevada, Carson City and Las Vegas.