My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: MD

My partner was terminated on March 31, 2008 after filing for worker's compensation at work.

He was taken to the emergency room at 3:30am on the morning of March 28 for a knee injury sustained at the end of his shift on the 27th. His employer claimed "no call no show" as the reason even though he called and spoke with a dept. manager before heading to the emergency room. Furthermore, I contacted his work 3 times while waiting at the emergency room in addition to delivering a medical excuse/leave the same day stating that he is not to return to work until the following week depending on the results of an MRI scheduled for the following week.

We have retained an attorney and agreed that under FMLA he should not have been fired. He agreed to take the case and notified the former employer that we would be filing a wrongful termination suit.

Earlier today my partner received a phone call from his former employer which was witnessed by 2 individuals from the office in which he offered my partner his job back.

Now our attorney is stating that if he turns down the offer my partner will not only lose his unemployment insurance benefits, but also will not be able to continue his suit for wrongful termination as a result. However, he would still be getting roughly $10,000 for FMLA, but he would not be able to pursue a wrongful termination suit. (I believe the attorney was pursuing wrongful termination as retaliation for filing a worker's comp claim as well as FMLA).

The attorney said that he would negotiate a conditional return to work so that my partner will be guaranteed that he can't be fired under certain conditions for at least a year. My question is instead of accepting the job offer, can he request front pay instead? We both feel that if he returns to work that he will be treated unfairly.