fired because of high-risk pregnancy

[t428]

What is the name of your state? Alabama

i need to know if there is a time limit on filing claims against a former employer and if so, how long?

also... if i was fired for having to leave work because of a medical emergency and i know that another employee had to have surgery and was not let go for his leave of absence how do i know if he was covered under fmla?

 

[Beth3]

Before proceeding, do you mind if we clarify why you were fired in order to know what the applicable laws are in your situation?

Your thread title says you were fired for having a high-risk pregnancy but in the body of the post you say you were fired for having to leave work due to a medical emergency.

What exactly were the circumstances of your termination? Were you fired for being excessively absent? Were you fired for leaving work without notifying your supervisor? Did your employer know you had a high risk pregnancy? Had you discussed with them the possible need for intermittent FMLA due to your pregnancy?

 

[t428]

i left my job because i could not get ahold of my supervisor for an hour and 30 min. no one would answer their phone and i was bleeding very heavy.

my employer knew of my high-risk pregnancy. i had already had 4 miscarriages before. my doctor had put me on bed rest for about 3 days before that day. that was my first day back to work. my employer and i had talked about having to take leave intermittently and i was told it would be fine as long as i had a written excuse from my doctor.

 

[Beth3]

Thank you for the additional information but it's still not clear precisely why the employer terminated your employment.

Was it because you left work that day without informing anyone?

Was it because you failed to bring in a doctor's note following the absence that day? If so, had you previously brought in any documentation from your doctor substantiating the need for intermittent FMLA?

Did you have any prior discipline for any attendance related issues?

Is there any reason to believe you were treated less favorably because you were pregnant than other employees have been who had non-pregnancy related medical problems?

(In order to determine whether any laws were violated, I need to know exactly why you were terminated and if there is any "history" there.)

 

[t428]

i had no previous problems with absences, i had to leave work about a week before because of bleeding and that's when my doctor put me on bed rest which was fine with my employer because i had a doctor's excuse. i got ahold of my supervisor immediatly that time and i couldn't leave until she got there and it took her two hours to get there. the second time i could not get in touch with my supervisor and i left because i wasn't about to risk my child's life because she wouldn't answer her phone and that's why i got fired

 

[Beth3]

Assuming you and your employer were both subject to the FMLA, then I think we have a violation here. You had already taken medical leave time and the employer knew of your condition, had spoken to the employer about the need for taking intermittent leave, and had to leave work unexpectedly due to a "serious health problem." With the need for "unforseeable leave" such as this, the employer actually had to give you at least 15 days to provide the necessary documentation to them to support the need for FMLA.

It appears you have the basis of a FMLA complaint with the federal Department of Labor. You may wish to speak to an employment law attorney before proceeding.

I hope all goes well with the balance of your pregnancy and you have a health baby. Good luck.

 

[t428]

thank you for all of your help but i still need to know if there is a time limit on filing claims after discharge.

 

[Sinsaint26]

FMLA violation complaints must be filed with the Department of Labor within two years of the violation. If you wish to file a complaint for pregnancy discrimination it must be filed with the EEOC (dually filed with the appropriate state agency) within 180 days of the discriminatory act, which would be the day of termination. One thing I have to ask is if you applied for FMLA? How many employees worked at this location? How long did you work for this employer? In order to file an FMLA complaint you and your employer must first be subject to comply with FMLA.

 

[t428]

well, it's already past the 180 days. i worked there for about a month and it was a corporate owned hotel so i'm not sure how many employees there were altogether but we had at least 40 . i had not filed for fmla and didn't know i had to to benefit from it. they had posters up in the back office about it so i assume they were subject to comply with it.

 

[Sinsaint26]

They may have had to comply with but because you only worked there for a month, you did not meet the requirements (employed at least one year and worked at least 1,250 hours). There was no FMLA violation as you did not qualify for the protection.

 

[cbg]

If there were only 40 employees, then the company was not under the FMLA mandate either. But even if they were (perhaps had had more than 50 employees earlier in the year) if you had only worked there for a month you were not eligible for FMLA to begin with. As Sinsaint explained, you must have worked for the company for a minimum of 12 months AND have worked at least 1,250 hours before you are eligible for FMLA.