Terminated after requesting ADA Accomodation

sambam0531

New Member
Jurisdiction
Florida
On the afternoon of May 20th I requested an ADA accommodation for continuous leave effective 05/16-05/31 as well as STD benefits.For the record that claim is still pending. I recieved a call the same day from my supervisor advising that she had recieved my request and to call me back when I was able. Being ill, I was not able to call her back right away. At around 10am on May the 23rd I recieved a letter via FedEx indicating that I had been terminated the previous day for no call/no-show. The first issue I have is that I feel this is incorrect--my supervisor left the voicemail advising that she had recieved my request for continuous leave. I hadn't even received the paperwork I had been advised to fill out when I was terminated/the letter was printed.

On May 23rd I initially called my supervisor and left a voicemail requesting a callback. I also reached out to the HR rep on the letter and left a voicemail with her. To date, ALL attempts to reach my former supervisor have gone unresponded to. I did manage to reach the HR rep the following day after leaving 2 voicemails (I called her again) and was told to contact my supervisor. She did make it very plain that I was seemingly to blame for this termination--she asked me where I had gotten my information regarding the STD/ADA/FMLA benefit manager from, why I hadn't reached out to my supervisor to get permission and coordinate, who had I spoken to file the claim, etc. I advised I followed the procedure listed on our ADP website, which I do have a screenshot of--it advised me to contact the benefits manager and no one else. I also advised that I still had the voicemail where my supervisor acknowledged the leave request and she basically said "well I just do what I'm told".

Now there is also the issue of my personal belongings: I have not recieved any notification that a box was shipped, that they are being held, that they were thrown out with the trash....I'm pretty much being ignored. Because I have this chronic illness I really don't have the energy to drive an hour to this workplace to pick up stuff, I need to find someone who is able to drive me.

My ultimate question is would this be considered wrongful termination, or should I even bother contacting a local attorney.
 
My ultimate question is would this be considered wrongful termination


Anyone responding to your questions knows much less than you know about this situation, so accept any information revealed to you with a 10 pound box of Kosher rock salt.

Generally nothing you have revealed would cause a reasonable person to believe that your termination was founded on an unlawful basis.

You can learn more about the term "wrongful termination" on these various websites:

Wrongful Termination: Was Your Firing Illegal?

How to Handle a Wrongful Termination

Wrongful Termination - Workplace Fairness

Wrongful termination

Wrongful Termination - FindLaw


should I even bother contacting a local attorney.

In this country everyone has the right to speak with, even retain the services of, an attorney.

Most attorneys will meet with a prospective client without charge to evaluate your situation and allow you to ask questions free of charge or further obligation on your part.
 
so you are saying you didnt call in on the 21st or 22nd nor speak to anyone at work? And you just exchanged phone messages? Did you ever speak with them in person? What is the regular call in procedure for an absence? Was there anyone that could have called in for you? You can still be held accountable for that as long as others were too.

How long had you been working for this company?

a request of leave under ADA accommodation is not an automatic approval. Generally interactive communication is required and a leave is not always the ONLY accommodation.

Whether you have a case would take seeking more details such as how many absences you had before this, etc. Your best bet is to seek advice from a local employment attorney.
 
so you are saying you didnt call in on the 21st or 22nd nor speak to anyone at work? And you just exchanged phone messages? Did you ever speak with them in person? What is the regular call in procedure for an absence?

No, I never (still haven't) spoken to anyone. That is the typical callout procedure --leave your name, dept/supervisor, length of absence in a message. The only thing atypical was they received it from the leave benefit manager and not directly from me. I have had other absences, all related to the same issue but this was the first ADA accommodation I requested. I did let them know when I was hired I had a "disability" and was basically told "oh well if its a problem down the road just request an accommodation"


For such a large company this whole process feels incredibly juvenile.....I have had accommodations before in other positions and have also been terminated from other positions and never been frozen out quite like this. This is the main reason why I feel like there may have been something not-kosher about my termination.
 
You don't just to call in, say, "I want an ADA accommodation of a two week leave" and then take the leave without waiting for approval. If that's what happened (and that's what your post sounds like it happened) then I would say your termination was legal.
 
You don't just to call in, say, "I want an ADA accommodation of a two week leave" and then take the leave without waiting for approval. If that's what happened (and that's what your post sounds like it happened) then I would say your termination was legal.


That's not quite accurate.....if my doctor advises that's what I should do, that's what I'm gonna do. That's why the leave benefit management company allows people to backdate their requests.

This particular company also has locations in AZ which apparently created some law requiring that any "sick" time be job-protected whereas regular ol' vacation time is not and must be scheduled in advance. So that's what I have been using.....and in that respect my job is protected, but not federally. The only reason I even requested the ADA accommodation in the first place is because you have to request it if you're requesting a short term disability leave, which I did. That claim is still pending and is waiting on medical records. In the forms my doctor also requested future accommodations, not just this initial leave.

As it so happens, I think someone realized that they potentially messed up...I FINALLY received a reply (via email) from HR indicating I'm not actually fired yet....and wouldn't at all if the ADA claim is approved.
 
As it so happens, I think someone realized that they potentially messed up...I FINALLY received a reply (via email) from HR indicating I'm not actually fired yet....and wouldn't at all if the ADA claim is approved.


Bully for you, mate.
It ain't over till its over, and for you, it ain't over.
I smile when WE the little people aren't beaten to a pulp and get treated with some measure of appreciation and respect.
Again, bully for you and all of us little people.
 
Actually, it's quite accurate. You might want to do a little reading on exactly how the ADA works and what is required. Good for you if they decided to un-fire you but you may rest assured that if they hadn't, they'd have had a perfectly good defense against any claim you might have made.
 
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