Serious medical condition: If your employer has 50 or employees within a 75 mile radius of your workplace, if you've worked at least a year, and if you have worked at least 1,250 hours in the past year, you are entitled to up to 12 weeks of Family and Medical Leave for a serious medical condition. However, “serious” is pretty limited. The Department of Labor explains “serious” this way:

• any period of incapacity or treatment connected with inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice or residential medical care facility; or

• a period of incapacity requiring absence of more than three calendar days from work, school, or other regular daily activities that also involves continuing treatment by (or under the supervision of) a health care provider; or

• any period of incapacity due to pregnancy, or for prenatal care; or

• any period of incapacity (or treatment therefore) due to a chronic serious health condition (e.g., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.); or

• a period of incapacity that is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective (e.g., Alzheimer's, stroke, terminal diseases, etc.); or,

• any absences to receive multiple treatments (including any period of recovery therefrom) by, or on referral by, a health care provider for a condition that likely would result in incapacity of more than three consecutive days if left untreated (e.g., chemotherapy, physical therapy, dialysis, etc.).

Disability: Assuming your employer has at least 15 employees, they're covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act. If your illness related to a covered disability, then your employer must grant a reasonable accommodation for your disability. A reasonable accommodation could include time off for a disability-related illness or treatment. EEOC explains that, “A person can show that he or she has a disability in one of three ways:

• A person may be disabled if he or she has a physical or mental condition that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning).

• A person may be disabled if he or she has a history of a disability (such as cancer that is in remission).

• A person may be disabled if he or she is believed to have a physical or mental impairment that is not transitory (lasting or expected to last six months or less) and minor (even if he or she does not have such an impairment).”