Firing due to Vendetta or Health Plan Claims?

[deadmanwalking]

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

My wife was called into her supervisor's office and told that she was about to be terminated, despite her job performance being on par with that of her fellow employees. The supervisor hinted, then said flatly that my wife had a substance abuse problem and told her to get help for it.

My wife is not a substance abuser. One of her prescribed medications may have side effects that mimic the signs of substance abuse; this is the only objective explanation we can think of for this charge.

However, my wife had had a previous discussion with this supervisor regarding improper handling of her accounts by another employee who is the relative of this supervisor's former romantic interest. The supervisor accused my wife of "picking" on this employee for reasons unrelated to the documentation my wife offered to the supervisor at the time of this other employee's violation of normal company procedures.

So one reason for my wife's latest admonishment by her supervisor may be a vendetta pursued by my wife's supervisor. I also have cancer and the company funded health plan recently changed providers, so we had to state my condition to management. My treatments are expensive.

What are our options?

 

[Hot Topic]

Was Human Resources made aware of the effect the medication has on your wife? Was the supervisor?

If your wife is an at will employee, she can be terminated for any reason unless said reason is a violation of Federal law, e.g., her age or her race. And you need proof, not speculation, about what's behind the termination. Even then, it might not be illegal.

 

[cbg]

If the prescription meds she is taking "mimic the symptoms of substance abuse" and they are affecting her work, that is a legit reason for termination. Even under the ADA, which may or may not apply, the employer is not obligated to accept performance or behavior that they would not accept in a non-disabled employee.

 

[deadmanwalking]

To answer your question, none of my wife's co-workers have noticed any negative impact on my wife's performance, due to her medication or anything else. Everyone's sales have suffered equally, and my wife's supervisor may actually have impacted my wife's sales negatively by sending her accounts to the other employee I mentioned in violation of normal company procedure. That was the basis for the previous argument between my wife and this supervisor - the supervisor's own violation of normal company procedure in sending my wife's accounts to the other employee.

My wife is the only woman to work under this particular supervisor for more than six months before being fired - a period of six and one-half years. My wife has been employed continuously with this firm for that entire period. I decline to speculate on the reasons why women don't last under this supervisor, but the pattern exists - they don't. My wife has been the only one.

In prior years, my wife has received company-wide recognition and awards for exceptional performance. The only thing that has changed since then has been the national recession, since the company's services are priced at the top end of the local range for such services.

I believe that my wife's employers simply don't want to pay their portion of the unemployment insurance that they need to pay for letting my wife go as an economic layoff, so they've fabricated this ****-and-bull story about substance abuse. My wife doesn't even DRINK more often than three times a year, which makes her a tee-totaller by comparison to the rest of the staff.

My wife's performance relative to the other employees in her position is a matter of record. She kept up the same performance as other employees despite having some of her accounts flipped over to another employee by her supervisor in violation of normal company procedure. The only reason I even mentioned her prescription medication is that it MIGHT have caused some change in her physical appearance - not her performance as measured by objective criteria.

But no, my wife didn't mention her prescription medication to the company's human resources department. The false allegations made by her supervisor of substance abuse are a completely new issue which arose this week. My wife didn't think her supervisor would stab her in the back in this way.