Fired for not being able to make it when being told the day of

[on0itsj0e]

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


I got a text from my boss at 7:30 am this morning telling me i had work. It snowed 30 inches last night and the trains and busses are not running so i told him i couldnt make it and he fired me. Can i take any legal action?

 

[antrc170]

New York is an at will employment state which means that the employer or employee can terminate the employment at any time for virtually any reason. the few exceptions have mostly to do with discrimination. it doesn't sound like you have been discriminated against at all. the boss gave you an order, and you failed to follow it. regardless of the weather conditions the employer can terminate you. i would say that you have a good chance of gaining unemloyment though.

 

[Dave1952]

Did your employer have a "snow" policy or anything that discusses working during bad weather?

Good luck

 

[swalsh411]

Did your employer have a "snow" policy or anything that discusses working during bad weather?

Good luck

Irrelevant. Even if there was such a policy the employee could still be fired and the termination would be legal. Even if there was not a policy the employee would still likely not be disqualified for unemployment for missing work one day due to weather condititions.

So, either way, it doesn't matter.

 

[Dave1952]

It's not irrelevant. That the State is an "at will" State does not prevent other agreements from applying. It's these other agreements that I wish to explore.

Good luck

 

[swalsh411]

The existence of such a policy would not make this a wrongful termination. Employer are rarely if ever legally obligated to follow their own policies.

 

[pattytx]

A company policy may or may not rise to the level of a contractual agreement. Just sayin'.

 

[commentator]

You can file for unemployment insurance. One thing they will ask you is are you able available and ready to go to work now. It will take a while, but if the only reason you were fired is because you were not able to get to work during very inclement weather, you'll have a pretty good chance of being approved. It goes to whether you had control of your circumstances or not.
Did you try to get to work? Did you notify your employer in plenty of time before the shift began that you would not be able to get in?

That's about all you can do if the employer does not relent and decide to give you your job back when you can get to work due to weather conditions.

 

[eerelations]

OP, what do you think your boss would have said to you if you'd replied "yeah, okay, I'll come to work today, I might be a little late because of all the snow, but I'll get going right now"?

 

[Betty]

OP,

This was not a wrongful termination (unless there was a legally binding employment "contract" to the contrary).

File for unemployment ins. & look for other employment.

Good luck.