Question:

I am 21 weeks in remission from breast cancer, still have hormonal therapy , doctor and lpab followups every three months with a current diagnosis of cancer. My employer states that I am not eligible for FMLA and that when I took intermittent leavre last year for treatment I was only eligible for 60 days under FMLA. Is this correct?

Response:

Your 12 weeks of leave is generally based on a rolling calendar year, so you would have to wait a full 12 months before the leave would start over, check with your employer to be sure that they use that method.
There were recent changes to FMLA that went into effect as of January 16, 2009 that discussed chronic serious medical conditions, the FAQ published by the Department of Labor explains the changes, and the second question touches on your situation.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/finalrule/NonMilitaryFAQs.pdf
Lastly contact your local DOL office to see if there are any state laws that might need to be met prior to taking FMLA.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/america2.htm

Question:

my son is 7 months, myhusband wanted to take a break from work because he could never get any sleep.Recently he went to hr and they told him he could not take fmla leave cause it needed to be taken with in 3 days of the baby birth. Is this something that the company can do ?

Response:

FMLA does provide bonding time for parents of new born children and adopted children.  The concern that your husbands employer is probably having is that is has now been 7 months since the child was born and the bonding has most likely been established.
I am not an attorney and I do not know the full details of your husband’s employers policies, so I can’t say if vacation or PTO would work.  Discuss the situation with the employer and find out what his options are as most employers are interested in the well being of their employees.

It has finally been updated, a new poster from The U.S. Department of Labor. Be sure to get your poster up with your other employment posters ASAP.
You can find the poster here:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/posters/fmlaen.pdf

Question:
I have worked for my employer full time for 2.5 yrs. I was injured on the job 8/08 have an active work comp claim. I requested and FMLA for numerous times and was refused, HR stated that I could not use FMLA with work comp, is this so?

Response:
Many employers will try and burn FMLA whenever they get the chance so you use up your allotment, and many states allow employers to use FMLA and Work Comp time together, thus ensuring no loss in benefits and job security for 12 weeks. You might want to check with the workers comp insurance agency and see if your state has any requirements that don’t allow your company to use comp and FMLA at the same time.