Fired from job while in hospital/Supervisor spreading my medical info on job

[st4nowk]

What is the name of your state?
South Carolina

I was recently hospitalized for 12 days, while in the hospital my supervisor told me to call in daily, so I did. Every morning I'd call & let her know I'm no closer to getting dismissed they can't find out what the problem is/where the infection & fevers are coming from. She'd ask me questions about my prognosis, and I didn't realize she does not have the authority to ask me those questions. I found out that when I got off the phone with her she turned around and told my entire prognosis to the team members.
I then found out that I was going to be released Thursday, I called work to tell them, they tell me not to come in Friday until I hear back from HR. I hear back from HR yesterday and they tell me that because I was there under 6 months - didn't have FMLA or short term, that I didn't have vacation/sick/personal time accrued to cover my time off & they fired me. Nov. 29th would have been my 6th month there.
Is it legal to get fired over the phone? And do I have any recourse against the supervisor that spread my private information around? This company knew how sick I was, and that what I was going through were from complications of a medical procedure that was performed on me (I've also posted under malpractice forum w/?'s regarding hospital stay).

Thank you!

 

[las365]

It is legal to fire someone over the phone. It is also legal to fire someone who is unable to work because of medical problems unrelated to a disability covered under the ADA or a work-related injury (this is a vast oversimplification but accurate, I believe, in your situation).

It may have been tacky for the supervisor to share information that you freely gave about your medical condition, but I don't think it was illegal.

 

[pattytx]

No, sharing the medical information was not illegal (even though it was very unprofessional) because you provided the information yourself.

 

[cbg]

I'm not sure why so many people think it's illegal to be fired under the phone, but you can legally be fired over the phone, by letter, by fax, by Federal Express, by Western Union, by e-mail, by smoke signal and by singing telegram.

 

[ecmst12]

And they can ask for your medical information all they want. You do not have to provide it in all cases, but you chose to. Your employer is not covered by HIPAA in this case and is not prohibited from sharing information that you gave her yourself. Perhaps your coworkers were concerned about you.

 

[Betty]

I agree, you can be fired over the phone & you have no recourse against the supervisor who gave out medical information that you furnished her.