Can I be fired while on FMLA leave?

FMLA gives you the right to return to the same or an equivalent job — same pay, benefits, shift, and status. What it doesn't give you is more protection than working would have: if your whole department was eliminated, or a layoff selected you on neutral criteria set before your leave, the termination can be lawful even mid-leave.

The burden is the employer's. The regulation says an employer "must be able to show that an employee would not otherwise have been employed at the time reinstatement is requested" to deny restoration. A reason assembled after your leave request, or applied only to you, reads as pretext.

Retaliation is a separate violation. Under 29 CFR 825.220, an employer can't count FMLA days against you in attendance or discipline systems, and can't punish you for requesting or using leave. A termination close in time to a leave request — or an attendance policy that quietly counted FMLA absences — supports a claim even where some valid reason exists.

What to do: keep copies of your leave request, approval, and any performance reviews from before the leave; note the timeline; and raise the issue with the DOL Wage and Hour Division or an employment attorney.