My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California
I suffered a bout of episodic depression due to management actions at work and had to go into the hospital for a week as a result. I got out of the hospital and my doctor sent management a letter saying I was under a doctor's care and it was fine for me to go back to work.
Subsequent to receipt of that letter, management requested a meeting with me before my going back to work. During the meet we discussed the depression. They also informed me they'd learned of two acts of mine taken over the last couple months ago and of which they disapproved. (Either 'act,' in my eyes, is sufficient grounds to fire me.) At the conclusion of the meeting management said, "We'll keep you on the books on a medical leave of absence, and let's meet again in a month and talk about this."
This coming week is meeting time again, and I'll also have had a follow-up doctor's appointment. But I'm sure the "two acts of mine" referenced above bother them.
I'd like them to make a decision one way or the other about keeping me. I'd prefer to keep the job -- I love it -- but I can just hear them saying at the conclusion of our next meeting, "Well, let's meet again in another month."
- Is there any point at which my employer must make a decision about taking me back to work, or can this medical leave of absence go on forever?
- At what point am I no longer really employed by them? (I'm providing no service to them, and they are not paying me anything. )
- If I don't 'hang in there' with the medical leave of absence in expectation of being taken back to work at some point, and I file for unemployment insurance, anyone have any idea how my not 'hanging in there' will hurt my chances of being granted the unemployment insurance?
If these are the wrong questions to ask, please enlighten me. ( And pardon me for seeming to be a bit naive. Perhaps living in the middle of the desert with no other jobs available for 50 miles in either direction may have something to do with it.) THANK YOU.

