being denied leave of absence for an ill out of town family member.

I was denied a request of an emergency leave of absence to take care of an ill family member for 2 week that lived in another state. I was told I could leave that day, they would pay me for the next two days. They did not want me back in the office letting others know they were making me choose between my ill sister and the job.I explained in our meeting, I was not resigning or quitting, but I must go take care of my sister. Upon returning home, a transfer of health insurance paper from COBRA were in my mail which stated, “upon your termination of employment with ???”. Therefore I filed for unemployment. I was denied benefits because: THE DISCHARGE WAS FOR MISCONDUCT CONNECTED WITH THE WORK. I want to file an appeal, what should I do? Thank you for any help.

Hi Anonymous,

This is better, but I still need to know what state and how many people the employer employs.

Comments for being denied leave of absence for an ill out of town family member.

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by: Anonymous

This occurred in FL and about 100 employees in company. I have filed appeal and waiting on telephone appeal date. Stated on appeal, “I feel the determination was in error because the employer did not have good cause to discharge me under misconduct. (Let me go for requesting a Leave of Absence to take care of family member). If you have any added information that can help with my appeal, I would appreciate your knowledge.

Sounds good to me. You acted in a responsible and reasonable way to an emergency. The fact that the employer fired you on the spot for even requesting a leave .. is not with good cause .. at least as far as I’m concerned, but unfortunately I don’t decide:).

The only thing I would ask you is WHY? Is there some underlying issue I’m not aware of that the employer will raise at the hearing to try to support their decision to terminate your employment. I ask this because .. that’s what I’d want to know if I were attempting to find a focus for the employer to sustain the denial.

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Shifting the burden back to the employer.

by: Anonymous

Occurred in Florida. More than 50 employees.

It sounds like you were fired because you requested a leave. You need to familiarize yourself with the Family Medical Leave Act. 50 or more employees require employers to adhere to this act.

If FML isn’t a possibility, it is always advisable for an employee to request personal leave. It shows you explored reasonable alternatives to quitting in situations that wouldn’t be good cause for quitting because they are personal.

If an employer has a leave policy which you do utilize and you are denied a leave for what is a compelling and valid reason, you have effectively created a situation .. if you have to quit, which is now attributable to the employer .. because they would need to show why their denial of leave was justified.

In your case, you stated that in a meeting you requested an emergency leave and the employer opted to send you home immediately. Unless you are leaving out some relevant information, it’s sounds like you were let go for requesting a leave.