After termination is decided, it’s too late to get leave

Although there are many protected leaves in California, and it’s important to follow all legal requirements and document the steps, a claim for leave discrimination still requires an employee to show the employer’s legitimate stated reason for termination wasn’t the real reason.

Bad attendance, undocumented drug administration

Kimberly Wilkin worked for Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. In November 2016, Diana Poudrier, her department director, gave her a written disciplinary notice for poor attendance. Before that notice, the hospital had given her three other courtesy notifications warning her she could be disciplined if her attendance didn’t improve.

In February 2017, Wilkin received another written disciplinary warning for poor attendance and attended a meeting with Poudrier and Jeri Gilbert, the hospital’s assistant director of HR, to discuss her ongoing attendance problems and communication issues that had been raised by other employees.

In March 2017, Wilkin requested intermittent family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and was granted time off approximately one to two times per month. She alleges she “suffered from multiple disabilities including chronic back pain, Hashimoto’s disease, torn wrist ligaments, whiplash and uterine issues which included excessive cramping and bleeding.”