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What is the name of your state? CA

We have an employee who has been warned several times about her attendance. She usually doesn't have a doctor's note. She showed up a few weeks ago with a doctor note stating she needs to be off for two weeks for "medical reasons." She brought in another note extending the time off for another two weeks. Today, she called to say she might be in tomorrow, ahead of schedule. She says we can't fire her because she's on disability, but she admits that she doesn't know if the state has processed her paperwork and we haven't been contacted by anyone. She also wants to be allowed to work part-time. She refuses to tell us the nature of her disability, and we noticed that the time off she's taken coincides with the criminal trial of her relative.

a. How many employees does your employer have at your location? Overall? 5 Full-time employees, 2 part-timers.
b. How long have you worked for this company? She has been with us 7 ½ months.
c. How much TOTAL time (including any sick, vacation or personal time used for this purpose) have you missed due to injury or illness in the last twelve months? Until this incident, she’d missed work 13 times, some full days, some partial days. For this incident, she’s missed a total of 15 days.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Thanks for reposting; it's too difficult to try to answer two different questions on the same thread.

Actually, your situation is quite different from the other.

First of all, BOTH because of the size of your company AND because of the relatively short duration of her employment, she has NO legally mandated leave time available to her under either Federal or state law. Thus you are at liberty to terminate her employment whenever she has used up whatever medical leave time you offer as a matter of company policy.

She is absolutely INCORRECT that she cannot be fired while she is on disability. That is a commonly believed but absolutely false concept. IF her injury reached the level of being protected under the ADA, then she could not be fired BECAUSE OF her disability. However, in her case you have no proof that ANY disability exists; let alone one that reaches the level of ADA protection. Also, there is a very decided difference between firing someone BECAUSE OF their disability and firing someone who is "on disability". Read my explanation to the other poster; note that I have personally seen employees who were termed and continued to receive disability benefits for several YEARS afterwards. An employer is NEVER required to continue to employ someone beyond the length of any Federal or state mandated leave time, whatever that time may be. What length of time may be mandated can vary, but whatever it is, once it is up the employer can ALWAYS terminate.

If I were in your shoes, I would probably give her a drop-dead date; either she provides a verifiable proof of medical disability by xx/xx/2004 or she is out on her little ear. However, if you feel that you've already given her more than enough time, you can legally term her today.

You have NO legal obligation to allow her to work part time if you don't want to.

If she actually does have a disability, she will most likely be a eligible to collect (again, note my response to the other poster). But you are at liberty to fire her for violaton of your attendance policy.
 
Good to know

cbg,
Thanks for the info, it was exactly what I was hoping to hear. I hated feeling like my hands were tied, and she was being so smug about it. Now I just have to decide how to proceed... do I allow her to return, with a set list of improvements we need to see, or do I just cut our losses and find a new employee. Decision, decisions.
 

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