Part 4: Preferred Employers Insurance Company – A Case Study of a Corporation Gone Wrong

Once Chrysti Corkill came to me with her doctor’s note, everything changed. She was now eligible for a bona fide FMLA leave, since it was for her own medical condition.

I met with Daryl Tilghman, the AVP of Human Resources for Preferred Employers Insurance Company, and showed him the doctor’s note. I told him that we should just start fresh. Since Chrysti’s previous time off wasn’t valid under FMLA, I suggested we reset the clock at 0 hours; and let Chrysti start a bona fide FMLA leave and forget about trying to add in the previous time she’d taken off.

Daryl said no. I was to continue to count any time she’d previously taken as bona fide FMLA leave.

This left Chrysti with only 37 days of FMLA leave. She should have gotten 12 weeks (60 days) of FMLA. But because we were counting the previous time off to care for her sister as FMLA, she would only have until April 9, 2010.

She’d have to return to work on Monday, April 12, 2010.

Because this leave was for Chrysti’s own medical condition, I had to start a fresh set of paperwork. I sent to Chrysti the PEIC FMLA letter, a Notice of Eligibility and Rights and Responsibilities, a FMLA Application, a Medical Certification for her doctor to fill out, plus various pamphlets such as the CFRA pamphlet and a Short Term Disability Claims packet.

This is routine, but in Chrysti’s case Daryl Tilghman had me add to the PEIC FMLA letter, in bold type, “Once a completed and signed Medical Certification Form is received in the HR department and approved by the AVP of Human Resources, we will send you a letter approving your FMLA/CFRA leave. If additional information is required to approve the leave, we will notify you.”

Chrysti received the PEIC FMLA letter and the Notice of Eligibility, filled out the FMLA/CFRA Application, and had her doctor fill out the Medical Certification.

Once she returned them to me I went to Daryl Tilghman so he could personally approve Chrysti’s FMLA leave.

He did so, but before I sent Chrysti the approval he first directed me to change the form a bit by lining out the words, “including a workers’ compensation injury” and then hand-write “not a worker’s comp claim,” and initial and date it.

I did so, and then I fedex’ed the approval to Chrysti, so she’d know that her FMLA/CFRA leave for her own medical condition had been officially approved.

So we were set: Her doctor’s note and all the required forms were in her file. The leave had been personally approved by Daryl Tilghman. As of February 18, 2010, Chrysti Corkill was on FMLA for her own medical condition.

Several months later, however, in an astonishing turn of events, Daryl Tilghman was called upon to testify under oath about what he knew about Chrysti’s leave. I wasn’t present.

But I have the audio recording.

Next week: – Part 5: The termination of Chrysti Corkill

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