Texas
So I know that Texas is an at will employment state and I probably know the answer but I'd like to get input from someone in the know. I work for a very large, global company (about 40,000 employees in the Austin, Texas area alone) and I have been at my job for 2 years. I found out today from a co-worker that I am being fired in two days. I have no idea why I'm being fired and nothing has been documented indicating that I have done anything wrong to lead up to this termination. I am a single mother with one toddler son. Last month I had to miss 5 days of work because he was ill. I have doctors notes and notes from his daycare to back this up. I'm concerned that the real reason I'm being fired is that I took this time off work. My new boss has been very difficult and a real jerk, making my work life almost impossible since she took over the role as my supervisor. Since she started I have felt like her primary goal was to fire me or make me so miserable that I'd eventually quit. I mentioned this to her and her boss (in writing) recently. My plan is to pre-empt my firing by speaking to our HR generalist tomorrow and explaining to her that I'm concerned about the way my boss has acted towards me recently and that I'm leary that my job may be in jeopardy because of my recent absences. Do I have a leg to stand on here? What I mean is if I'm certain that my boss is firing me because of the time I had to take off to be with my ill child, can I use that? Or is this just a bad business practice but not illegal? Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
So I know that Texas is an at will employment state and I probably know the answer but I'd like to get input from someone in the know. I work for a very large, global company (about 40,000 employees in the Austin, Texas area alone) and I have been at my job for 2 years. I found out today from a co-worker that I am being fired in two days. I have no idea why I'm being fired and nothing has been documented indicating that I have done anything wrong to lead up to this termination. I am a single mother with one toddler son. Last month I had to miss 5 days of work because he was ill. I have doctors notes and notes from his daycare to back this up. I'm concerned that the real reason I'm being fired is that I took this time off work. My new boss has been very difficult and a real jerk, making my work life almost impossible since she took over the role as my supervisor. Since she started I have felt like her primary goal was to fire me or make me so miserable that I'd eventually quit. I mentioned this to her and her boss (in writing) recently. My plan is to pre-empt my firing by speaking to our HR generalist tomorrow and explaining to her that I'm concerned about the way my boss has acted towards me recently and that I'm leary that my job may be in jeopardy because of my recent absences. Do I have a leg to stand on here? What I mean is if I'm certain that my boss is firing me because of the time I had to take off to be with my ill child, can I use that? Or is this just a bad business practice but not illegal? Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.