Injured at home. Employment claims job abandonment.

[DThurau]

Waterford, Mi.
The morning of March 17th I got off of work. Went home. I forgot something in my car. When I went to get it, I fell down the stairs. I went to sleep. When I woke up, I could barely move so I went to the ER. They took x ray's. No broken bones so they sent me home. I could not get off the couch. The next morning the pain was worse so I went to an emergency clinic. They gave me a script for pain pills plus a shot. They also gave me a doctors note for the 18th, 19th and to return to work on the 20th with restriction. They gave me a referral to a doctor (I didn't have a regular doctor), so I made an appointment and the soonest available was today on the 26th of March. I still could barely move the morning of 19th so I went to another clinic to get a second opinion. He gave me a referral for an MRI and a back brace along with another script along with a doctors note saying I am off till the 26th of March. At my appointment today, My doctor recommended that I am off work until my next appointment on the 2nd of April. I called the human resource's department at my employment and they said that I no longer have a position at the company because I abandoned my job. I left countless messages with my human resource's rep.. I don't understand how they can just fire me like this. Any advice would help tremendously.

 

[cbg]

I need you to answer several questions:

How long have you worked for this employer?

How many employees does this employer have within 75 miles of your location?

What is your employer's regular call in procedure? Did you follow it?

How long was it before you made your FIRST call to let them know you would not be in?

 

[DThurau]

I have worked for the company for just over 2 years. As far as the number on employees, a good estimate would be 75.

The employee hand book say's "If you are going to be tardy/absent from work, please contact one of the following people: 1. - Your human resources manager. 2. - Your shift supervisor." There is not anything that elaborates on the subject.

The first night I went to the hospital, my wife called and left a message with the human resources lady.

 

[cbg]

I think I see the problem. At what point did either you or your wife actually speak to someone, as opposed to leaving a message?

 

[commentator]

While you are working out whether or not you should have received FMLA, as soon as you are released by your doctor to return to work, and your employer says you no longer have a job there, file for unemployment insurance benefits. If you were out of work due to a medical emergency, making a good faith effort to follow the call in procedure, and you have a doctor's statement saying you are now fully released to return to work (no restrictions) at that point, you can file for and will probably be approved for unemployment benefits. You will not be able to get them as long as you are not able to work, they are in no way medical or disability leave. But they reason that you cannot avoid being ill or injured, and though your employer may fire you, they cannot keep you from receiving unemployment benefits because you are out of work for a "no fault of your own" reason.

t turns out they should have given you FMLA leave, that will be something else you will have to work out, and it will take a long time. In the meantime, go on and file for unemployment benefits as soon as you have recovered. In fact, if it appears you may be unable to work for a longer time, you may need to go on and file the claim, though you won't be able to start drawing it until you are fully released to get another job.