Suspended and possibly fired for g/f having baby

[BusyBee1989]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

Hi! I've been employed at my job for over 6 years now. My live-in girlfriend was pregnant when we first started dating and she had the baby unexpectedly over the weekend. Anyway, I contacted the president of the company (it's a small family-owned place) and explained what happened. I was not able to show up to work on Monday because of it, and he completely understood and told me to get my rest and come to work the next day. When I got there, my immediate supervisor notified me SHE is suspending me and doesn't care what the boss told me and doesn't care the reason why I wasn't there. She cussed at me and told me to get my coat and "GTFO" because I knew she had Monday off and I was supposed to come in. I ended up having to stand off the property in the cold freezing my hands off while I awaited my ride to return. She's let other people be completely fine when they've had some sort of medical emergency or anything like that. And then she said after my suspension, there will be a meeting regarding the future of my job. This is completely ridiculous, I feel. I've given so much for the company, and if the president of the company said it was okay and to return to work the next day and I did, how does she have the right to overturn that and suspend me? And now my job is at stake because of it? Is this legal? Do I have a case at all regarding this?

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

Hi! I've been employed at my job for over 6 years now. My live-in girlfriend was pregnant when we first started dating and she had the baby unexpectedly over the weekend. Anyway, I contacted the president of the company (it's a small family-owned place) and explained what happened. I was not able to show up to work on Monday because of it, and he completely understood and told me to get my rest and come to work the next day. When I got there, my immediate supervisor notified me SHE is suspending me and doesn't care what the boss told me and doesn't care the reason why I wasn't there. She cussed at me and told me to get my coat and "GTFO" because I knew she had Monday off and I was supposed to come in. I ended up having to stand off the property in the cold freezing my hands off while I awaited my ride to return. She's let other people be completely fine when they've had some sort of medical emergency or anything like that. And then she said after my suspension, there will be a meeting regarding the future of my job. This is completely ridiculous, I feel. I've given so much for the company, and if the president of the company said it was okay and to return to work the next day and I did, how does she have the right to overturn that and suspend me? And now my job is at stake because of it? Is this legal? Do I have a case at all regarding this?

No. You don't have a court case. It is legal but not nice. You were suspended for not coming to work when scheduled. And this child is not yours so I do not believe it would even be covered under FMLA.

 

[BusyBee1989]

If I lose my job over this, would I at least be eligible for unemployment benefits?

 

[swalsh411]

If I lose my job over this, would I at least be eligible for unemployment benefits?

Most likely yes. If you qualify financially (meaning you have enough wages in the lookback period) then I do not see you getting disqualified for misconduct for this. You notified your employer you would not be coming in to work, you had a good reason (though not a FMLA protected reason) and were fired anyway. That's not misconduct. If you have been suspended without pay, file for unemployment immediately. Do not wait until you are "officially" terminated.

edit: fixed typo

 

[TigerD]

Have you considered calmly talking to the president, who approved your absence, about what is happening?

DC

 

[cbg]

If the employer has less than 50 employees, then FMLA is not a factor in any case, but even if the employer is large enough to qualify for FMLA this situation would not.

There is nothing at all illegal about this situation. You are not being suspended or fired because your girlfriend had a baby; you are being suspended or fired because she expected you in to work and you didn't show up. There may be a difference of opinion in upper management as to whether you were supposed to be there but that does not magically make the suspension illegal or turn a firing into a wrongful term.

I agree with DC that your best bet overall is to calmly and politely address the matter with the president who gave you permission to be out (evidently without understanding the difficulty your absence would cause). It may or may not change matters. But neither the suspension or any potential firing would give you any legal recourse.

 

[commentator]

As soon as you are out of work more than three days, regardless of whether or not your supervisor says you are "suspended," as soon as you are out of work two or three days, sign up for unemployment benefits.

Any time you are off work without pay, if your employer cannot show they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you, you are eligible for unemployment. Regardless of whether or not they say you are fired or "suspended" if the suspension is without pay, you are eligible for unemployment benefits unless they can show that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you.

Being off work for a close friend's medical emergency, with the permission of the company owner, is very likely not going to be considered misconduct. (in unemployment insurance) You called in appropriately, you did what you were told to do by your company owner, and if your supervisor wants to act out, send you home, curse you and show her butt in general, though you have no legal recourse, cannot sue her, that in no way means you committed misconduct worthy of being terminated without warning. (for unemployment purposes.)

Your company owner may elect to reinstate you, especially when they receive the inquiries about your termination instigated by the unemployment division for their purposes. In fact in many cases your immediate supervisor may be the one who gets in trouble in this situation, eventually.

But in the meantime, you do the only thing you can do, which is first, call the company owner you spoke to originally, and ask him if he really meant for you to be disciplined and terminated this way and does he stand behind his supervisor in this action and are you really terminated? And second, file for unemployment benefits. Regardless of what he says, even if he says, well, let her keep you on suspension for a week (or two weeks) go on and file for unemployment just for that one week, file the claim. You are entitled to it, and you should do it.

This unemployment comes from your employer's taxes that they are required to pay into the unemployment system. Therefore it's quite stupid of your supervisor to decide to put you off work without pay, on whim, without prior warnings, and let you be eligible for unemployment benefits. Regardless of how irritated she may have been. Even if you are not covered by FMLA, which you are not.

While there is no court case, no reason you can sue them, your employer does have responsibility, if it is determined that you are out of work "through no fault of your own" even for a week, to pay the taxes that will pay for your unemployment benefits during this time.