Job Claiming Me Getting Fired Is A “voluntary” Exit From The Company Because I’m Taking Leave, Is This Right?

Location: Florida

I have to take a month and a half leave for a surgery. I’m not covered under FMLA because I haven’t been there long enough and I can’t get paid for it because I didn’t sign up. I knew this and told them months in advance that this would be happening. In the beginning of this month I received an email essentially saying I’m being fired.

“After further review and discussion, we have determined that your employment with (Company) will end effective prior to the start of your requested leave.”

This is what I highlighted and sent back to clarify and what they said in the email they sent letting me know I was being terminated. I can post the entire email if needed. It is important to note that there is a policy that states that an employee cannot take more than 7 consecutive days off. It doesn’t say what violating that results in.

“You are taking a voluntary leave of absence that violates our time off policy for maintaining a set schedule due to the time of leave being taken. Due to this, for HR purposes, your termination is voluntary. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.”

This was their response. I’m just a little confused about this. At no point did I voluntarily quit. I just let them know I would be taking leave.

This is the policy:

“Employees are not allowed to take more than 7 consecutive working days off in a row, if an employee requests 10 days or more consecutive working days their current schedule may not be available upon their return.”