Fired

[kjenny]

Hi. A week ago, i was fired from my job. I was a waitress at a local restaurant and on that day dealt with some difficult customers, i also had a rough week plus being pregnant with raging hormones didn't help either.
As i was saying ,some customers were very rude to me and that made me very upset but i didn't show it to them. After all, it's part of working in customer service. However, that day was different for me. I started feeling dizzy and hyperventilating and went up to my manager and told her that i had to go away for a bit ,sit down and get myself together because i wasn't feeling well. She did not say a word to me and i went into a separate room and sat there for about 15 to 20 minutes which didn't help me feel better. I was crying and went up to her again and told her that i couldn't do it anymore ,i wasn't up for working that day anymore and that it wouldn't do anyone any good if i stayed. Again, all this was beyond my control, i just couldn't help myself. So i left thinking that i might get into a little trouble over it but i wasn't going to jeopardize my baby's health or mine. I just needed to step away that day. So i did.
The next day i was told that i was fired because i walked out of my job without any notice. Apparently, my manager had told that to the Food and Beverage director at the company. I believe i should have been given a chance to at least explain myself to someone, instead i wasn't. This is my issue and please if anyone could give me any advice or tell me if i'm being unreasonable here. Thank you!

 

[army judge]

You're not being unreasonable, neither are they. You made a choice. They made one, too. Employers don't have to explain why they fire you, no more than you have to explain why you wish to resign.

You made choice. They did, too, by firing you. They had legal obligation to speak with you. Choices have consequences.

 

[kjenny]

no i did not make a choice. I was not feeling well, i told the manager that i needed to leave. It was not my choice to physically feel bad.

 

[army judge]

no i did not make a choice. I was not feeling well, i told the manager that i needed to leave. It was not my choice to physically feel bad.

Nevertheless, there is nothing more I can tell you.

I didn't fire you.

You're picking a fight with the wrong person.

 

[kjenny]

i am not picking a fight with anyone. i thought we were here to discuss.

 

[cbg]

You may not have made a choice to feel badly, but you did make the choice to go home. The law does not require that they give you a chance to explain yourself. Unless you have a valid and supportable reason to think that a similarly situated employee who was not pregnant but who was having a bad day, didn't feel well and chose to go home in the middle of the shift with no notice would not have been fired, you've got nothing. Your employer did nothing illegal.

 

[army judge]

i am not picking a fight with anyone. i thought we were here to discuss.

See, you're wrong again.

This is how it works on this forum.

You pose a question.

One or two of us provide an answer.

You leave.

We don't debate.

We don't discuss.

We simply dispense answers.

You've received your answer.

Guess what you do now?

 

[kjenny]

You are very judgmental ,...army judge...i guess i misunderstood some things.no need to snap like that.
cbg: i did give a notice, i didn't leave without one. Anyway, thank you all for your help.

 

[cbg]

When I say, without notice, I mean you said, "I"m going home" and went. You didn't go to your employer early in the day and say, "I'm not feeling well and may have to leave early". You didn't give them advance notice that they might need to find someone to cover your shift.

 

[kjenny]

ok, i really would like to reply to this but since i got "scolded" earlier by this army judge, i don't want to waste anyone's time or piss anyone off. so if this place is not for debating, like he said ,let me know. if you want to hear my answer which would have been shorter than this anyway, let me know.

 

[cbg]

The site is for providing general legal information. Debating with us would not do any good; we have no means of forcing your employer to give you your job back. We are telling you what certain phrases mean within an HR setting. "Without notice" in this sense does not necessarily mean that you walked off without saying anything to anyone.

You can certainly give us your answer here, but it is not likely to change the answers you've already received, which is that your employer may have treated you unfairly, but he did not treat you illegally.

 

[esteele]

I appreciate why kjenny is dismayed, if not shocked, that your employer treated in you in a reportedly shabby fashion and that you do not apparently have any legal recourse. The above responders are not expressing these inarguable facts to be mean or curt. They are simply and accurately reflecting the state of the law.

Except for Montana, generally an employer can terminate an at-will worker for any lawful reason. Unfortunately, terminating a pregnant employee because she cannot physically continue to work in a particular day does constitute a lawful reason. Mean spirited? Yes. Unlawful? No.

Kjenny appears to be among the mistaken majority of Americans who believe they have an unalienable right to basic decency in the workplace. For example, in one survey, eighty to ninety percent of the respondents mistakenly believed that a private sector employer cannot legally fire an employee without good cause or justification. This survey result reflects the shocking level of mis-education concerning the relationship between employer and employee.

Hopefully, we will all live long enough to see the day the nation's high schools will teach as part of the basic curriculum a course or at least social studies lessons on the parameters of the workplace. These lessons should inform the future workforce, at a minimum, how the employment at-will doctrine operates, and the how the legislatures and the courts have created exceptions to the doctrine.

Until that day, kjenny, you should endeavor to relax during the balance of your pregnancy, do some further research on the Internet on workplace rights and otherwise endeavor to regroup. I wish you and your family well.