In 2002, Martha Bryant, 56, found out that she had high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and a heart condition. Two years later the Nashville, Tenn., resident took eight days of unpaid medical leave to deal with her health problems. Four days after returning to work, she was fired from her job as a senior programmer analyst for Dollar General Corp.

Bryant filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District in Tennessee, claiming that the company had violated the Family and Medical Leave Act in firing her. She won. Dollar General appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and AARP filed a friend of the court brief in support of Bryant. Bryant won again.

The FMLA was enacted in 1993 to allow employees at large companies to take up to 12 weeks off every 12 months to care for themselves or a family member. The statute protects the employee’s right to continue health insurance coverage and to return to work at the end of the leave period.

“It’s critically important that the courts enforce employees’ rights to take family or medical leave if jobs are not to be held hostage to employer retaliation for exercising statutory rights,” says Jay Sushelsky, senior attorney for the AARP Foundation.

Dollar General argued that it had not interfered with Bryant’s right to take the leave, but fired her for her involvement in a workplace argument the preceding month.

Neither court accepted that reasoning. For one thing, Bryant had performed well in her job from 2001 to 2004, when she took her medical leave. For another, a Dollar General supervisor told her, “Because of your health, I don’t think you can do the job.”

The jury awarded Bryant $73,943 in damages for unlawful retaliation and an additional $73,943 in other damages.

She has yet to collect because, her lawyer said, Dollar General intends to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What it means to you: If you face difficulties taking a family or medical leave at your company, consult the human resources office. If you are fired for taking a leave, or fear you will be, consult a lawyer. Some lawyers will take such cases on a contingency basis, meaning they collect a fee only if you win the case.

Emily Sachar is a journalist and author based in Brooklyn, N.Y.