Two kinds of claims
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees of covered employers job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons, and eligibility depends on the size of the employer and on the employee's length of service and hours worked. Claims usually fall into two kinds. Interference covers an employer denying, discouraging, or obstructing leave you were entitled to, including failing to restore you to the same or an equivalent job. Retaliation covers punishing someone for requesting or taking leave, for example by counting FMLA absences under an attendance policy or using them as a reason for a poor review. The same facts sometimes support both.
New York adds its own protection
New York Paid Family Leave provides wage replacement and job protection for reasons such as bonding with a new child or caring for a seriously ill family member, and it has its own anti-retaliation rules. New York's paid sick leave law separately protects use of sick time. Because these programs overlap with the FMLA but are not identical, a single leave may be protected under more than one law. Which applies can change the analysis of what the employer owed you. Keep your leave requests, approvals, medical certifications, and the notices the employer sent.
Looking at what changed
Timing is often the first evidence: how soon after the leave the adverse step came, and whether criticism appeared that did not exist before. Comparisons with coworkers who did not take leave can matter as well. FMLA claims can generally be brought in court without first filing an agency charge, though they have their own filing deadline. We review the leave history, the employer's explanation, your record before and after, and whether other claims, such as disability discrimination, arise from the same facts. If the employer uses a separate leave administrator, keep your communications with that administrator too, since they are often part of the record.
