Fired from job, reasons cited seem wrongful.

[GolfFan65]

I was just fired from my job at a privately owned butcher yesterday, my boss told me the following reasons as to why it happened. He said that he hired me to do cleaning, however I cannot physically be around cleaning products as at my previous job I was around so much bleach I started coughing up blood on a daily basis, he never told me that I was going to be cleaning when he initially hired me. He also said that I had been regularly late to work, however, he has no employee parking within very close walking distance, the area has a lot of road construction since I started working there and on top of that I have a knee injury that prevents me from running very much as it hurts when I do. I tried to run to work at one point and my knee ended up getting so swollen and in pain that I regularly had to catch myself from falling as it was giving out. The pain and regular almost giving out prevented me from running any more and inhibited my work ability as I had to walk a bit slower to maintain a working knee.

Now that I've been fired for what amounts to be because I have a disability I feel like I'm worthless. That I cannot do anything because I'm limited physically. Is there any legal action that could possibly be taken regarding this?

It should be noted that I did try to clean at the butcher shop a couple times and ended up coming home with a burning throat and worse coughing.

 

[cbg]

There is a reason for these questions.

How large is the employer? How long have you worked there? What job were you hired to do?

 

[GolfFan65]

It's a privately owned small business with, at the time of my firing, fifteen employees. I worked there for about four weeks. I was never told during the interview what job I was going to be doing, I applied to work the counter as I knew I couldn't be around cleaning products. Upon starting he wanted me to work the counter for half of my shift and then clean the back-end during the other half of my shift but after I told him about my health concerns around cleaning products he didn't make me do it unless they were very busy. The odd thing is that I was told that I was fired for not being able to clean. Wouldn't that be discrimination?

 

[GolfFan65]

One more thing I forgot to add. I had called out the day before I got fired because the lymph nodes on my neck were swollen. They were so swollen the night before that it was a bit difficult to swallow. I ended up going to the Dr and getting blood work, a chest x-ray and at TB test. It seemed like my calling out for a medical reason played a part in my firing.

 

[Zigner]

You've been late because you don't leave early enough. Once or twice due to construction and traffic I can understand. After that you learn to give yourself more time.

 

[cbg]

Do other people who work at the counter clean?

 

[GolfFan65]

No, I was the only one working the counter and cleaning.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state, GolfFan65, or, if not in the US, what is the name of your country?

 

[GolfFan65]

The state I'm in is Virginia.

 

[commentator]

Even if you've only been there four weeks, you still need to file at once for unemployment insurance. If you've been working anywhere for covered employers during the last two years, you may just have enough wages on file to set up an unemployment claim, and given the circumstances of this termination, you may be eligible to draw them until you can find another job.

One thing, of course, you have to be able, available and actively seeking other work. Keyword "able." You may not be able to handle cleaning products, but you still need to be able for other work. To draw a claim, you need to be able to work, not too disabled. Based on what you've said, you sound awfully eager to restrict your activities and mention your disabilities. I have bad knees myself, wouldn't DREAM of trying to "run to work" and would never ask people to understand and cut me slack if it messed up my knee that I did that. It's probably not enough at this point to get you disability, which is where people end up if they have too many health issues of this type

It sounds likely that your employer has decided quickly to lose a bad hire. He got an employee who failed to inform him before hiring that he couldn't work with cleaning products, which turned out to be a pretty big part of the job, and who was perpetually tardy due to traffic and the lack of close parking spaces, and complained (I suspect) about his health issues with the cleaning products and a bad knee a lot.

So you file the claim and tell the unemployment system that you showed up every day and did your best, and were fired for tardiness even though you were never given verbal warnings that your job was in jeopardy for this issue. You can also tell them that you couldn't clean due to the allergy to the cleaning products, and that your employer failed to tell you that it was part of the job description. You may very well get approved for unemployment insurance until you get the next job. But it will not cost this employer much in terms of unemployment taxes, because they did not allow you to work for them very long. This was actually a very wise move on their part.

As far as having a wrongful termination, I am not seeing it. Let others here think on it and work on it, but I am actually seeing someone who made accommodations for you as much as they could, and actually cut you a lot of slack. It's notable that they didn't ask you to clean unless there was an extremely busy situation. That they "didn't have a lot of close by parking" is hardly illegal or a lack of compliance with ADA. Its probabe that unemployment if eligible may be your only recourse.

 

[GolfFan65]

To clarify, what I meant by bad knee is that I have no cartilage in some spots inside my knee. I've had two meniscectomys, my knee cap surgically aligned along with an ACL and MCL sprain. On occasion it swells anywhere from two to three times it's size and the knee cap dislocates prompting me to almost fall. It's not a slight discomfort that comes with this injury, it's an agonizing pain that stops me from moving. The Dr had told me at one point that I have the restrictions of a sixty year old lady, it's necessary that I take action by mentioning this on the job to prevent any further damage to my knee.

 

[Zigner]

To clarify, what I meant by bad knee is that I have no cartilage in some spots inside my knee. I've had two meniscectomys, my knee cap surgically aligned along with an ACL and MCL sprain. On occasion it swells anywhere from two to three times it's size and the knee cap dislocates prompting me to almost fall. It's not a slight discomfort that comes with this injury, it's an agonizing pain that stops me from moving. The Dr had told me at one point that I have the restrictions of a sixty year old lady, it's necessary that I take action by mentioning this on the job to prevent any further damage to my knee.

Perhaps a butcher shop isn't a good fit for you...

 

[cbg]

Then you need to start for work earlier. There is nothing illegal about firing you for tardiness if you do indeed get there late. You don't get a pass on being on-time because you have a bad knee.

As for discrimination, I think you'll have a very hard time making that fly.

 

[commentator]

Nope, you don't get a pass. And if you start looking for other jobs and describing your knee issues in too much detail, you'll probably have a hard time finding other employment. Us sixty something year old ladies with zero cartilage in the knees and multiple surgeries behind us still don't find their ability to do most work restricted. I suspect you're nowhere near this in age or knee condition. you have many years before you to work before you can plead disability and withdraw from the workforce. So in the meantime, move along. They don't have to hire you with a bad knee, and they don't have to keep you around if you are too disabled for various reasons to do what the job required. Though you didn't say, it's most likely an "at will" state you live in, in an "at will" world out there where things are weighted in benefit of the employer.

 

[cbg]

If it's not Montana, it's an at-will state. If it is Montana, this is almost certainly one of the circumstances where Montana recognizes the at-will doctrine.