Hi everyone and thanks for all the input. Sorry to take so long to get back here but I was hit with the stomach flu last week. YUK

Here's the story of what happened:

I started working for the company in May 2000 full time.
In Sept 2001 I applied for a different position in another dept, same company. I got the job which was straight days, Monday thru Friday, weekends off.
Everything was going okay until this dept grew tremendously during a short period of time. I was the only one doing customer service. I begged and pleaded for some help, they dragged their feet but finally got a lady to come work alongside me. The dept kept growing and before we knew it we both were working 12-14 hrs a day.
By July 2003 the stress of the job was wearing on me and the doc said to slow down as I was told I have high blood pressure. In Aug 03 I asked my boss if I could go part time, they said yes. I worked 8 hrs on Monday and 5 hrs on T,W & Thu with Friday's off. The migraines were still there.
On Oct 26,03 I went to the doc and was immediately put on medical leave. I called HR and they put me on FMLA (that's what it is called here in Illinois.)
HR said as long as I got the doctors note to my boss stating why I was off, that's all I had to do and I did have the doc's office fax the note each & everytime I was there and I waited for confirmation. I followed up with a phone call to my boss to verify. She never answered the phone when I called, I left a voice message. In Jan 04, I was getting concerned about my job since I was fast approaching the 12 week mark and I went into work in person to speak to my boss, she was busy so I talked to the other manager. He told me not to worry, just get better and I would have a job when I returned. He did state that if I went over the 12wks they would put me in the other section of the dept. Okay, I said.
I went to the doctor in Feb 03 & he faxed a note stating I would see him on March 5th 04 and he would determine then when I would return to work. I spoke by phone w/PCP the week before the March 5th appt & he said to tell work I would be back on March 8th and he would sign the release when I saw him on Mar 5. I called my boss on Monday March 1st & left vm stating the above. She never called me back during the time I was off, UNTIL March 5th only to tell me that I would not have a job to return to on Mar 8th. She said there was nothing else available for me to do.
I applied for Unemployment on March 8th and rec'd a denial letter stating "the claimant is ineligible for benefits for the period from 3-7-04 thru 3-20. The claimant is only available to work part time due to medical reasons".

That is NOT entirely true since I asked to go part time & my boss agreed to it before I went on medical leave and when I talked to the other mgr in Jan 04 he agreed that I would be back part time when I returned from medical leave.

Now, I have to appeal this decision and go before a referee and I have to call a lawyer.

This all stinks after all I have been thru medically but I do have all the doctors notes to back me up.