Father gets fired for using family leave to bond with baby, care for spouse, feds say
.jpg "A new dad fired for taking off from work to bond with his newborn baby, feds say.")
A father was fired from his job after he took time off from work to bond with his newborn baby and care for his spouse, federal officials said.
Firing the man, who worked as a dock supervisor at U.S. Logistics Solutions Inc.’s distribution center in Covington, Georgia, was illegal, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
He should’ve been allowed to take up to 12 weeks of family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, officials said.
Since he wasn’t allowed, the company was ordered to pay the former employee $67,140 for money he missed out on after his firing plus more, labor officials announced in a March 27 news release. The company also paid him for front pay and unpaid earned time off following a federal investigation.
“Employers cannot deprive an employee eligible for Family and Medical Leave of their legal rights, and force them to make the hard choice between keeping their jobs and caring for themselves or their families,” Wage and Hour Atlanta District Director Steven Salazar said in a March 27 statement.
A U.S. Logistics spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement that while the company can’t comment on personal matters, it takes “responsibilities under the FLMA very seriously and strive(s) to provide a safe and respectful workplace for all of our employees.”
The father learned the company was firing him at a meeting with his boss on June 2, 2022, more than a month after his baby was born, officials said.
This came after he previously requested time off for parental bonding and to care for his spouse who had a qualifying medical condition under the FMLA, according to the release.
While his spouse’s medical condition wasn’t specified by officials, fathers generally are allowed to use FMLA leave to care for a spouse “incapacitated” from pregnancy or giving birth, according to the Labor Department.
At the June 2 meeting, the man’s boss said the company had denied leave to care for his spouse, after he’d already taken time off to do so, and accused him of payroll theft, the release said.
Then, a week later and after the man was fired, U.S. Logistics Solutions told him that they had canceled his FMLA parental bonding request on April 13, 2022, days before the child was born, according to officials. This was the first time he was informed of the cancellation, officials said.
“Federal law prevents employers from retaliating against workers who choose to exercise their right to bond with a newborn child,” Salazar said.
Covington is about 35 miles southeast of Atlanta.
This story was originally published March 28, 2023 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Father gets fired for using family leave to bond with baby, care for spouse, feds say."
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