EEOC Appeal No. 0120180568
April 3, 2019
An employee working for the Department of Veterans Affairs requested leave without pay for medical disabilities. She regularly told her supervisor when she could not come in and gave the reason. However, once her FMLA time, earned leave, and donated leave ran out, the agency required her to return to work and declared her AWOL after she continued to miss work due to her disabilities. However, the EEOC found that granting her additional excused absences would not have placed an unreasonable burden on the agency, as she was working three hours a day at the time of the decision and rarely missed work because the decreased hours created less stress on her body, which decreased the impact of her disabilities. The EEOC required the agency to expunge the AWOL reprimand and pay back pay, compensatory damages, and attorney’s fees.
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Attorney Angel did not represent this employee, but he does represent federal employees in EEOC proceedings.