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Do I have any rights?

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Patapi

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? I am actaully Canadian, New Brunswick, but I would like to get some insight from anyone.

I have only been at my job for about a month and a half. there are about 100 to 200 employees there. I have been off work since Monday, I had called in every day to tell them I was not comming in, and I also have a doctor's note where he states that I should be off for medical reasons from Feb 27 to March 4. When I called in today to tell them I would not be in they called me back and said I was terminated due to absenteeism. They said I had 7 occurences of absenteeism. 4 of them would have been excused by my doector's note.

My problem is I had no idea that there was a problem, my supervisor said nothing to me prior to this about attendance issues. Are they generally allowed to fire someone who has been ordered off work by their doctor? and have the note to prove it?
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Canadian employment law and US employment law are not the same. No one here knows employment law in Canada.

In the US terming you under the circumstances you describe would be perfectly legal. A doctor's note is not a get out of jail free card. The fact that you have a doctor's note does NOT mean that the employer has to ignore the absences, and seven absences, no matter how many doctor's notes you may bring, is too many for only a month and a half of employment.

But you're going to have to ask someone who knows Canadian law, to see if the same is true for you.
 

Patapi

Junior Member
thanks for the reply. Even though I find it odd how you can be terminated for something that is out of your control. ie: sickness is not something you can control, especially if you have documentation proving that you are sick.

anyway I thanks for the insight, I wasn't sure how different Canadian and US law was But I guess it is quite different.
 

eerelations

Senior Member
I am in Canada and have been providing advice on employment law to organizations for about 20 years now. That said, employers in New Brunswick (and all other Canadian provinces) are allowed to dismiss employees within their first three months of service for any reason whatsoever (including illness), except an illegal reason. "Illegal" reasons include race, gender, pregnancy religious affiliation, and so on. Illness, no matter how valid and proven, is not an illegal reason (unless the illness is an allowable workers' comp disability).

After three months have passed, Canadian employers may STILL legally let employees go, even for valid illnesses (but excepting allowable workers' comp disabilities), they just have to give these employees either notice of the upcoming termination or pay-in-lieu thereof. In your case, if you'd managed to scrape through three full months of employment, this employer would have been legally required to give you one week's written notice, or one week's pay in lieu of notice, to terminate your employment.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
eerelations, do you have a web site? I know someone who is going to be opening an office in Canada sometime this year and is looking for information on Canadian labor/employment law.
 

eerelations

Senior Member
I don't have a website although I've been meaning to set one up for several years now because it'll be good for business - however, I've been so busy with my business I haven't had time to set up the site! Go figure...anyway, I'd be happy to help your friend out, as this is very specifically what I do - help US organizations start up their employee relations/HR functions in Canada, and vice versa. cbg, I note both you and I have declined to have our email addresses posted on this site. However here's a hint on how to get hold of me - I'm hrbth on workforce.com.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I post semi-regularly on workforce, though under a different name; I'll find you. I've been there more often recently.

I have to confess, I can't recall offhand who it is. I remember the question coming up in a meeting of my hr group, but I can't recall who asked it. I'll find out and see if I can get the two of you together.
 

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