injury from working and job threating to let me go

[parkside]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia
I was hired by a courier business to deliver blood for red cross. My employer lost the contract with red cross and is having a hard time filling my hours. I have worked for this company for five months. They are threating to let me go. On top of that they have started me moving heavy objects (80 to 150 lbs.) everyday which is okay with me. I never filled out a incident report because it didn't just happen but slowly over time has gotten worse. I went on my own dime to a doctor and he said that I have Mortons nueroma probably. Yesterday after moving almost 200 boxes of cabinets my foot became really inflamed to where it hurt to walk. I told my boss that I needed Friday off so that I could rest my foot for this day and the weekend. I haven't had one sick day since I started. He told me that if I didn't work then he was going to have to think of hiring someone else. My question is this legal making me work with an injury under threat of losing my job and if they let me go because they lost the contract they hired me for do I have any rights.

 

[justalayman]

if you don't fill out an incident report concerning the injury, you have no protections. As it stands, all the boss sees is a guy that wants/needs to take time off and so far, it has nothing to do with his business.

if they let me go because they lost the contract they hired me for do I have any rights.

that doesn't help you in any way. Most places lay off people when work slows down. Since the work you were hired for went away, I'm surprised they have kept you at all.

 

[pattytx]

Plus, since you've only been there five months, job protection provided under the FMLA wouldn't apply, so even if this DOES turn out to be a worker's comp case, they could still let you go due to the lack of work for you to do.