A friend of mine got fired because he was sick. He has a doctors excuse which stated he should stay home for 4 days. Said friend did sign an agreement with his employer that he should show up to work everyday. The reason for said agreement is said friend was missing a lot of days at work. My question is can his employer, federal government, fire my friend because he signed said agreement even though he had a doctors excuse to miss work for 4 days? Should he sue? What are his chances of winning? Any similar cases? TIA.
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Fired due to illness
- Thread Starter vrifma
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I'm not sure how a doctor's note assists your friend especially if he missed an extremely large number of days of work. Is there a disability involved or other reason why you would think that he has the right to continue to miss work?
cbg
Super Moderator
Caveat: I have no experience in the public sector, where the laws can sometimes be very different.
In the private sector, a doctor's note is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. The ONLY chance he would have of winning any kind of lawsuit (again in the private sector) would be IF the sick time would have qualified for FMLA AND IF the employer had sufficent information to know that FMLA would be applicable. And if that is the case, the appropriate route to go would be (at least initially) a complaint with the Federal DOL, not the courts. I will grant that the employer should assume that FMLA applies until otherwise notified.
Otherwise, firing someone for poor attendance is not illegal, regardless of how valid the reasons might be.
In the private sector, a doctor's note is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. The ONLY chance he would have of winning any kind of lawsuit (again in the private sector) would be IF the sick time would have qualified for FMLA AND IF the employer had sufficent information to know that FMLA would be applicable. And if that is the case, the appropriate route to go would be (at least initially) a complaint with the Federal DOL, not the courts. I will grant that the employer should assume that FMLA applies until otherwise notified.
Otherwise, firing someone for poor attendance is not illegal, regardless of how valid the reasons might be.
Green_Hornet
New Member
It depends on what the doctors note said. If the doctors note diagnosed your friend with a qualifying disability under the Rehabilitation act the employer may not fire him without exploring other options or engaging in the interactive processes. Clarify this through an employment law attorney familiar with U.S civil service, and the Rehabilitation act.
In cases where litigation arises in employment law the treating physician or surgeon notes and opinions carries a great deal of weight.
The first thing that said friend should do is file for unemployment benefits. Even though the friend was discharged for missing numerous days of work, the unemployment compensation authorities look at what the last factor was that led to the discharge. Even though this friend may have been an unsavory employee in the eyes of the employer, and fell within the realms of a justifiable discharge due to total days missed, they should qualify for unemployment benefits since the last instance was due to a medical recommendation.
cbg
Super Moderator
Did the last three posters notice that this thread originated in 2003?
Green_Hornet
New Member
So what .....
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cbg
Super Moderator
So it's pointless to respond to threads that old.
And until you decided I was the devil incarnate, you agreed with that.
And until you decided I was the devil incarnate, you agreed with that.
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