Emergency Surgery

[mandy7181]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I was wondering if a emplyer can fire you when you are in the hospital about to undergo emergency surgery when you call in sick.

Heres the whole story its kinda long sorry I had been seeing a doctor for stomach pains for about a month that were so severe i would pass out. He did an ultrasound and found my gallbladder pretty much dead not to mention loaded with gallstones. But this doctor(who is not very good) told me to go home and it would clear up. Three days later I had such severe pain i had to go see a general surgeon---the general surgeon immediately admitted me to the hospital for a gallbladder removal. Turns out a stone was blocking my main bile duct--so i ended up having 2 operations. I could not walk or even eat. I called my boss from my hospital bed and told him i could not make it in( this is with 3 different IVs running into me). He basically told me unless i showed up to work he would fire me. Could he legally do this. This happened November 2001 so i had not worked long enough with the company to get unemployment. I do want to know if i have any legal course of action. I could understand if i called in because of a headache--but surgery???

PS I have worked since then(gotta support the family somehow)

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I was wondering if a emplyer can fire you when you are in the hospital about to undergo emergency surgery when you call in sick.

Heres the whole story its kinda long sorry I had been seeing a doctor for stomach pains for about a month that were so severe i would pass out. He did an ultrasound and found my gallbladder pretty much dead not to mention loaded with gallstones. But this doctor(who is not very good) told me to go home and it would clear up. Three days later I had such severe pain i had to go see a general surgeon---the general surgeon immediately admitted me to the hospital for a gallbladder removal. Turns out a stone was blocking my main bile duct--so i ended up having 2 operations. I could not walk or even eat. I called my boss from my hospital bed and told him i could not make it in( this is with 3 different IVs running into me). He basically told me unless i showed up to work he would fire me. Could he legally do this. This happened November 2001 so i had not worked long enough with the company to get unemployment. I do want to know if i have any legal course of action. I could understand if i called in because of a headache--but surgery???

PS I have worked since then(gotta support the family somehow)

My response:

Georgia is an "at will" employment State. The employer can fire you at any time, for nearly any reason (that doesn't violate Title VII), at his pleasure. He hired you because his company needed help. You weren't there. Simple.

IAAL

 

[mandy7181]

thanks IIAL, basically that means i can be on my deathbed and they can fire me---Georgia sucks. OH well, whats done is done. Thanks for the reply

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

thanks IIAL, basically that means i can be on my deathbed and they can fire me---Georgia sucks. OH well, whats done is done. Thanks for the reply

My response:

"Basically" it doesn't matter if you're on your deathbed, or poppin' Bon-Bons and watching Oprah. As long as you're not at work, you're subject to being fired. And, it's not just Georgia, either. It's the law in 49 out of 50 States. The only State that must fire you for good cause is Wyoming. Now, if you want to work on a ranch, or in some broken down feed store, then Wyoming just might be the place for you.

And, you're welcome.

IAAL

P.S. Please, I implore you to check with another "attorney" concerning your sister "willing away" her children to you in the event of your sister's and brother-in-law's death. You can't take away the jurisdiction of the court by way of a Will. And, you can't give away children via a Will. Please, check for me.

IAAL

 

[mandy7181]

ill do that---thanks---my sister dont want the kids taken away from the family...


by the way---do you have to go to college to become a paralegal or can you be trained.. I love law but I dont have the time or money to go to law school. I served for 2 years as a jr prosecuting attorney for teen court and i loved it---if you want to know what that is just ask

 

[Beth3]

Mandy - what date did you start working for this company? Were you full-time? How many people worked for this company?

You may have been entitled to FMLA, although I'm guessing since you didn't work there long enough to qualify for UC, you probably didn't work long enough to qualify for FMLA either.

 

[cbg]

Correction; the state that is not at-will is Montana, not Wyoming. And even in Montana (I got this right off the Montana DOL web site) you can be fired at-will if you are still in your probationary period or, if your company does not have a probationary period, if you are in your first six months of employment.

 

[mandy7181]

FMLA wouldnt cover me either---I had only been there for 2 months and there was less than 50 people there.

 

[Beth3]

So I'm guessing during your two months of employment there, you were absent just about as much as you were there (or were about to be.) While it appears you had legitmate reason to be absent, from your employer's perspective, you were new and who knows how much time from work you were going to miss. And in the meantime, whatever job they hired you to do was not getting done.

It's an unfortunate situation and nobody is at fault here. Since you had no FMLA protection, yes, your employer can terminate your employment under these circumstances.