Employer Terminated Employment due to Medical Condition

[belleg01]

Jurisdiction

Georgia

I have a chronic skin condition ( HS - Hidradenitis suppurativa) in which when I have flare ups it is almost debilitating, but my whole life I have managed to make it work and have found ways to work with it. I was hired by this company and in the preliminary paperwork, (just in case) I specifically stated my diagnosis, the symptoms that come along with it, and how it might affect my ability to perform said job. I even made sure to verbally discuss this with the hiring manager to ensure we would not run into any issues and I would be able to be accommodated if necessary during these flare up periods. Yesterday, I woke up to one of the worst flare ups I've ever experienced within my time having this condition. I still managed to make it to work, and it took everything in me to walk 50 feet into the entrance. I notified my supervisor immediately, and asked what will need to be done by myself. He called up the head of the department, and after just a couple of seconds of whispering to each other my supervisor comes over and says "just go home, there's no need for you here if you can't perform your job duties. HR will be in contact with you in a little while to discuss things further." I went home, and after a couple of hours of not hearing anything from HR, I decided to reach out to them myself. When the HR director got on the line, I explained the situation, reiterated that I had stated my condition in my onboarding paperwork when it says "please list any disabilities" I made sure to give clear and precise information. I even offered to give her proof of diagnosis, and I had already contacted my doctor's office and they said it would be no problem for them to provide documentation for me. After fully explaining, she stated (paraphrased) "Well if you can't do your job I can only assume we won't really be needing you a part of the team anymore. Once your physical issues are better and taken care of you can feel free to reapply and we will evaluate your application again." and the conversation was ended. I tried contacting them several times today to get further explanation as to whether I officially have been terminated and no further communication has been made by the company. Is this liable for any kind of case? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cbg]

How long have you worked for this company?
Approximately how many employees do they have within 75 miles of your location?
In the last 12 months, did you work a minimum of 1,250 hours for this employer?
Other than absences, in what way (if any) does this condition affect your ability to do the specific job you were hired for?

I may have more questions but let's start with these and see where they take us.

 

[belleg01]

1) 1 month
2) I would say around 5,000 although it is an international company, there are only around that many employees in this specific region.
3) no unfortunately not
4) none whatsoever, because I set myself up for being able to power through most days. It is rare that I call out completely because of this condition. When I call out, it means it's very bad.

 

[flyingron]

CBG was trying to determine if you were eligible for FMLA. ADA also is keyed by a smaller number of employes. The ADA however doesn't require the employer to abide you not being able to do the job you are hired for, only that they make reasonable accommodations to do the job if you were otherwise able.

 

[adjusterjack]

I tried contacting them several times today to get further explanation as to whether I officially have been terminated and no further communication has been made by the company.

I'll bet they are hoping you just won't come back so they can call it a quit if you file for unemployment.

If you feel better, I strongly suggest that you report for work tomorrow morning, to your usual work space, and perform your usual duties.

If anything, that could precipitate an official termination and you can file for unemployment.

If it doesn't just keep reporting to work every day as usual and see how it goes.

Frankly, I think you should have just called in sick like everybody else in America does when they are ill.

 

[flyingron]

In order to receive unemployment he has to be able to work.

 

[cbg]

Because you were there such a short time FMLA does not apply, so that kind of protection is off the table.

How often does this kind of flare up happen? I'm not asking you to carve anything in stone, but on an average, how much time due to this condition would you likely miss in, say, a six month period?