Punished for being sick....at work

What is the name of your state? NY State

I work at a fast food chain and I asked my manager to please let me leave as I was sick, and she said she couldn't because she let another girl go on break and I had asked first to go on a break thinking I could collect myself. The manager finally after me complaining enough told me to go and so I did. The next day the GM called and said I was being punished and suspended because I never returned from break. I was very angry and of course tried to defend myself. He indicated that I have a problem with managers and that I hide behind a doctors excuse. Which also upset me. I have complained about two managers one that hit me and screamed at me and made it look accidental on several occasions and then this one when she didn't tell the truth....I have turned in doctors letters and excuses and I am not ever to speak to the other managers again. I have to talk straight to this manager and deal with him and I am never allowed to leave a note or anything else with another manager.

Is this legal?

Is this ethical?

Is this just me?

Thank you.

Widdle Wady

Is it legal? Yes.

Is it ethical? You haven't provided any information to suggest that it ISN'T ethical.

Is it just you? Is what just you?

cbg Is it legal? Yes.Is it ethical? You haven't provided any information to suggest that it ISN'T ethical.

Is it just you? Is what just you?

Click to expand...

I can't believe it is legal to send me home and then tell me that I am now suspended from work because the shift manager lied about sending me home and that I can be punished for being sick? That is legal?

No one else on the job seems to get punished for being sick .... in fact they send them home openly. I am outraged that this kind of thing happened to me and I am outraged that the state of NY don't have laws to protect the employees from this kind of treatment. I provided proof that I was sick from the ER. I am in shock.

Thank you for your comments cbg.

There is a widespread, persistant, and totally mistaken belief among the general public that a doctor's note trumps company policy; that as long as you were really sick the employer has to excuse any and all absences.

Not even remotely true.

From the way you have described your managers' reactions, I very strongly suspect that you have been pressing your luck with absences, using time to the limit and using doctor's notes as excuses, until your manager is thoroughly sick of it. Your employer pays you to be at work; not to be home sick. Doctor's notes are a dime a dozen; except in very limited circumstances which do not appear to apply here, they have no force in law. It is PERFECTLY legal to single out an employee for different treatment if it is because that employee's behavior warrants it.

Not only can you be "punished" for overusing your sick time, you can be fired for it.

That was my only absence.... Interesting... It is company policy that if I came in with a doctors excuse that it would be an excused absence. My first absence. Thanks for your thoughts on this and I guess that as a diabetic that I will not be able to be employed at this company because of what it does to my blood sugar levels going out of control from this type of activity and not able to get the needed substance in the time I need it to adjust it accordingly.

Thanks,

BTW just for the record it was the GM of the food chain that I work for that told me that it was illegal for them not to let me get help when he was defending the shift manager and saying that she would have let me go. Interesting that the food chain store even thinks it is illegal......

There should be a law to cover diabetics who need insulin or glucogen. . .

If you'd included all that information in your first post, I'd have told you it was illegal too. But you left out some vitally important facts, and I can only respond to the information you provide.

The response I gave you was based on what sounded like a pattern of absences and doctor's excuses. Had that been the case, the information I gave you would have been correct.

You didn't mention until your last post that you were diabetic. There IS a law that protects you - it's called the American's With Disabilities Act. It requires that you identify yourself as having a disability and request your employer to provide a *reasonable* accomodation to allow you to perform the essential functions of your position. In your case, that would probably be time to do your blood sugar tests and take your insulin, if need be.

However, not even the ADA allows for your work to be under par or for you to violate company policy, and that includes absentee and tardiness policies.

If you need more info, let me know.