Forced into going on FML and no cooperation

[Guest mi102458]

Please help, I am writing this for my husband who is the member. He is mentally ill and was first placed on a one day suspension due to coming to work on medication. While in the meeting for this he requested a union rep and management said he didnt. He has not received any type of pay for 10 weeks. He was on medical leave approx. 4 wks. prior to this due to surgery. While on that leave he was continually harrassed by H.R. After this leave was forced, H.R. kept trying to get him to show documentation from a psychiatrist that was not available. He was told no short term money to be paid until he went to specific Doctors H.R. requested. We told H.R. we did not have the finances,and some of the places requested had 1-2 month waiting for appointments. Now he has gotten the appropriate medical attention and H.R. refuses to back date the date of the disability beginning. They are breaking us financially and have caused my Husband to have a nervous breakdown. Union in the local aren't even concerned, nor have they contacted my husband. This local union has a very fine line between union/management. Management tells the local that no one is to speak to my husband but the H.R. man. One extra piece of info. The H.R. man was the H.R. person for me, the wife in the H.R.'s previous non-unionized job. Today we received a certified letter stating my husband has been non-compliant with paper work, which is not so. We cannot turn in paperwork on something we dont have. There are so many other details to this. I have document past harrassments and told the local union I have this. When we were going to turn this in before they told me to hang onto it. Where is the help My husband is supposed to be getting?

I hate to bring race into this issue but if my husband were black or a woman at the position he would have already received the help. This is cross discrimation. He does have a mental illness that can be controlled. He is Bipolar. I have called H.R. and he tells me he wont speak to me. He is rude and has even hung up.

PLEASE HELP US> they are bankrupting us and ruining our childrens holidya.

[KIP KRAUS]

It appears to me that you have several issues that may or may not be related.

Your first statement is that your husband is mentally ill. Then you indicate that he was on sick leave for 4 weeks due to surgery, prior to, I assume his mental illness.

If his employer has a short-term disability plan, it would require medical evidence that he is totally disabled from performing his job, first off, due to the surgery. The next issue seems to be that he has bipolar disorder, which most short-term disability plans would require an expert to diagnose before paying benefits. They will not take a surgeon’s diagnosis for Bipolar disorder when it should be diagnosed by a specialist.

You could contact the Department of Labor in your area and talk to them about this situation, or contact a good lawyer.

Your husband may also be covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act, which the Department of Labor should be able to give you some information on.