Fired for calling in sick to the wrong person

[rttnwinger]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

My husband was employed for 6 months before he was recently fired for calling in sick to the wrong person. He was the center manager and was supposed to call in to the district manager. However, due to the nature of his illness, he was not thinking clearly and barely able to speak. The day after he was fired, he had to be taken to the ER and had emergency surgery and was on life support for 2 1/2 days and then given a tracheostomy tube and in the hospital for 6 more days. His district manager had been very adversarial with him for several months prior to his illness. I've been told that it's "just too bad" and there's nothing we can do. Is this true????

 

[AmosMoses]

I probably shouldn't answer this being that it is a guess, cuz don't know about your state specifically, but I figure in an absence of info you can at least see my opinion:

If your state is an "employment at will state", I believe they call it, and your husband is not working under an employment contract, then basically the company can get rid of him for almost any reason, and likewise, your husband can quit at any time he pleases. Now, as far as "almost any reason " goes, there are certain reasons where an employee would enjoy some federal and likely state protections, such as if he were in a "protected class" and was fired because of this, which is, in effect discrimination. Now, there are federal protections against terminating people with disabilities, but I am almost 100% positive that your husband would not qualify for this protection simply because being sick does not equate with being disabled. Also, there are many provisons in the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) that need to be met anyway....I just do not see that applying here in any way at all.

If your husband has only been there 6 months and he has been having trouble with a member of management for several of those months, then obviously, it seems that the manager was waiting for any sort of reason to fire your husband, and if so he likely has his ducks in a row. I would think that your husband's best bet would be to appeal to higher management, but NOT WITHOUT CONSULTING COUNSEL FIRST! I mean, if counsel says that you have some sort of recourse, you don't want to screw that up, but if not, and your husband really wants to go back to work there, he could try to appeal to higher management. Speaking as someone who has been through a similar situation, your husband may well want to re-think whether or not he wants to continue working in an environment where he has a foot on his neck anyway.

 

[cbg]

Since your husband had only been working there for six months, he did not qualify for any mandated or protected leave time. So there's no protection for him there.

AmosMoses is correct that what you describe almost certainly would not qualify for ADA protection. And even if it did, that does not excuse him from following company policies, including call in policies.

In the absence of any protection from FMLA or the ADA, there is nothing about the fact that he was ill that gives him any extra rights. That being the case, while it may be unfair, it is not illegal for them to fire him for this reason.