My fiancé works for a company that works with disabled children. Her job involves working with these kids on a one on one basis, in the families home for extended periods of time (months to years) and as result, really forms a bond with them.
To make a long story really short, in the past year she has had 2 of her kids die under very tragic circumstances (abuse and/or neglect) and it has wrecked havoc on her mental health.
For the last two weeks, her job has forced her to take time off. That’s fine…except she has to use her own PTO. Furthermore, they are refusing to let her return to work until she has her therapist approve it. Her therapist has approved it and sent a letter saying so, but her employer rejected it because the wording wasn’t exactly what they wanted….forcing her to use even more PTO.
My question is, can they force her to take time off of work, refuse to let her come back AND take her PTO? It feels like she is being punished for something that wasn’t her fault and was completely out of her control.