Legal Question in Employment Law in Louisiana

My wife is a cancer survivor who has worked for the same company for 30 years full time as the office supervisor. She is a breast cancer survivor who had to take FMLA 2 years ago. She was scheduled to have her reconstruction surgery next month and filled out and turned in her paperwork for FMLA. Before the leave was approved, her supervisor from another office, notified her that her job has been eliminated and her last day is tomorrow. Of course, her insurance options are none or COBRA. While I understand that we live in Louisiana, an "At-Will " state, this just smells bad.. Do we have any legal recourse? They are pressuring her to sign a waiver of liability so that she can get 13 weeks of severance pay. She is 62.


Asked on 8/04/16, 5:15 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Larry Demmons The Demmons Law Firm

Louisiana is an at-will state, but if the reason for her termination is because she wanted to take FMLA leave again, then that is illegal. The problem, as with all these cases, is proving that the reason for termination was not what the employer says. In this case, you may not know until later when you see if the employer hires someone else to do the job your wife was doing. Is her job something that could be eliminated, or do you think that is a pretext? As for the waiver, if you sign it, you will be barred from bringing any claims, so you should make sure of what you want to do before you sign it, although to be effective, it should have a 7 day revocatory period so you can change your mind in a week if you do sign it. In summary, if you can prove that the reason they gave you for her termination is false and that the real reason she was terminated is because of her request for FMLA leave, then yes, there is legal recourse.

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Answered on 8/04/16, 6:52 am


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