I’m currently an employee of a well known maintenance company. I’m a mid to high-functioning schizophrenic with extensive documentation of the illness and prior hospitalizations. On May 26th, 2021 I began having breakthrough symptoms of psychosis and I told my boss I had to leave because of a medical condition after he pressed me about it. I told him I have a condition that has put me out of work a handful of other times, where I had to take an FMLA leave of absence.
Because I have already been through this, I knew I would need FMLA because I knew I would go through a change of medication. These medications can inhibit my ability to safely peform the functions of my job, and in daily life. I was doing everything I could to avoid being hospitalized, by dealing with this immediately. My supervisor told me he would get me the FMLA paperwork from HR, and on countless occasions I checked back with him because I had not recieved the paperwork. He told me HR would not respond, and eventually he had to contact the VP of the company. Even the VP said HR was not getting back to him.
Since then, I have been on two medication changes, and am currently being monitored for the second medication change. Now on Geodon instead of Zyprexa. If all goes well, I expect to return to work by July 12th. However, the same day my supervisor told me the VP was not receiving a response from HR, I received an email from HR stating they had sent me the FMLA paperwork three times and I had failed to turn my certificate in. This is absolutely false, so I replied in a few different emails, immediately confronting their falsehood. I provided screenshots of the conversations between me and my supervisor and challenged the assertion they made. They claim I requested this on the 8th of June, when in fact I requested it on May 26th, 2021. They are lying and trying to make it look like I failed to turn in my certification and their timeline does not add up to my evidence. I have not received a response from HR since. I also tried to get my vacation and sick time put in, so I could recoup some of my lost wages, but have received nothing. I feel as though they are getting ready to retaliate and terminate me by these actions, so I am seeking legal consultation before I proceed. According to the FMLA guidelines they should have given me my paperwork within five days, not almost an entire month later on top of lying.
Does this sound like FMLA interference to anyone? It feels like they are getting ready to terminate for taking the leave.