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Please Help I'm losing my mind

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SassyLiz

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? I live in Washington state.

Ok so here is the deal. I work in retail as a low level manager. At worked at this one place for a year then quit giving 4 wks heads up b/c i was pregnant and didn't want to work while pregnant. They loved me i was one of their best employees so they were sad to see me go. Recently I came back my baby is a year old now and i feel like re-entering the work force. They were estatic to have me back. For the past 3months I have been working my tail off for them and they were even starting to train me for a higher position. Then I had a family crisis. I don't want to go into detail but it put me in the hospital. I missed a total of 9 days all covered under doctors notes. This all happened a week before my 90 days were up.

I get a call from my manager saying that even though i was covered by a doctors note and had a medical condition they were going to let me go. She said it would be for the best. (fyi i was to return back to work in only 4 days). She goes on to say that she is putting down in my file that i'm leaving volunterrily due to medical ilness (BS!) That is fraud. I did not under any circumstances want to quit my job.

I went in and talked to her and demanding that she put the truth down in my file. She then asks if i was going to turn in my badge and key and with out thinking i handed them to her. She said now you have voluntairly quit by relenquishing your keys.. WTF!? She asked for them and its not my person property what was i suppose to do. We went around in a circle her saying that she did not terminate my employmentm, me saying that i didn't leave, but she would say im no longer an employee but couldn't give a reason why.

She then said she had to leave it to HR that she couldn't handle this herself. I want to know my rights. I KNOW she is in the wrong for saying a voluntarily left.. that has to be fraud. Is it legal to fire someone for a medical condition especially when they were only gone 8 days. I'm just so stressed right now. Any help would be appreciated.
 


ecmst12

Senior Member
You had not worked there long enough to qualify for FMLA so it was legal to terminate you for this reason. When you are physically able to go back to work, go ahead and file for unemployment (though you may not qualify financially because you were out of the workforce for over a year). It's worth a shot though. Outside of unemployement though, it doesn't make a lick of difference what they SAY about why you left.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
An argument can be made that leaving for medical reasons IS a voluntary quit.
 

commentator

Senior Member
What she is trying to say is that you voluntarily quit. Not because she can't fire you legally for the reason that you were out sick, even with doctor's excuses. She is probably doing this so she thinks it will keep you from receiving unemployment insurance. What you need to do is file at once. You do not have to wait for a letter or official statement from the company. The unemployment office will contact the company after you file.

There is a slight problem in that having been out of work for over a year and just returning to work recently, you may not have enough wages to qualify for a claim. If this is the case, there will be no issue. You're fired, you have nothing you can do but move on and find another job. As they have said here, they can, and have let you go for being out due to illness.

But if you have got enough money in your wage records to set up an unemployment claim, file it immediately, submitting the doctor's excuses for the absences, and clearly stating what you were told, and how they kept trying to insist that you quit by turning in your keys when you were asked to, or by being out sick in the first place, but that you did NOT want to quit, that you were forced to leave your job through no fault of your own. You could not help the health issues.

There is no other advantage in her saying you were quitting over being fired. You cannot sue her or the company. You cannot seek reparation of any kind except for unemployment benefits. You were not qualified for family medical leave, so you cannot demand anything because of this.

But if you were out for illness with a doctor's statement and you were terminated because of this, then you would very likely be eligible for unemployment benefits, if you are monetarily eligible, regardless of what the employer insists or claims. The unemployment office does not automatically accept their word as the truth, and we don't generally do semantics ("by giving us her keys, she was quitting")
 

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