Employer changed reasons for termination

[Lkenny]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY State

I was terminated wrongfully i believe. I recieved a paper stating why i was terminated with 4 reasons, 2 of which made no sense. I wrote a grievance against this and met with someone from HR and upper management. They said that after reviewing everything the paper i recieved stating why i was terminated was inaccurate. They then proceeded to give me a new paper that stated why i was terminated, this with only 2 reasons because the other two im pretty sure were illegal. I did not sign this new paper as i was very uncomfortable with them changing their story. is that legal for them to do?

the four reasons were, i failed to aquire my ekg certification - which i did get after being terminated. also that i failed to seek out my employer when asked to do so. that i called out of work on a specific day-i was in the emergency room. and the fourth is that i purposly did not come in for 4 hrs of one of my shifts and called a superior to get around my managers decision- this is something i was never called about or made aware of until i was fired, i never called a superior as i did not even know i would be missing 4 hrs of work- so this was a lie.
I do not have any write ups of diciplinary action, or freq absences.
I am a nurse and these things have nothing to do with my job performance. they labeled me as being insbordinate.

the new paper states i failed to get my ekg certification and the 4 hrs of a missed shift that i was not even aware of. everything else was taken out.
i should also mention that not everyone on my unit is ekg certified and yet i was the only one fired for it. people who have worked there for yrs, and me being there only 7 months.

is it legal for them to change their paper stating why i was terminated simply because my grievance probably proved them wrong. i am also newly preg and feel this may have contributed

 

[cbg]

Which reasons do you think were illegal?

 

[Lkenny]

i think firing me for calling in sick when i had ER documentation, and i have sick days.
also how can you fire someone for not seeing their boss when they asked, i seeked her out she wasnt available.

 

[Lkenny]

but can they change their reasons?

 

[Hot Topic]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY State

I was terminated wrongfully i believe. I recieved a paper stating why i was terminated with 4 reasons, 2 of which made no sense. I wrote a grievance against this and met with someone from HR and upper management. They said that after reviewing everything the paper i recieved stating why i was terminated was inaccurate. They then proceeded to give me a new paper that stated why i was terminated, this with only 2 reasons because the other two im pretty sure were illegal. I did not sign this new paper as i was very uncomfortable with them changing their story. is that legal for them to do?

the four reasons were, i failed to aquire my ekg certification - which i did get after being terminated. also that i failed to seek out my employer when asked to do so. that i called out of work on a specific day-i was in the emergency room. and the fourth is that i purposly did not come in for 4 hrs of one of my shifts and called a superior to get around my managers decision- this is something i was never called about or made aware of until i was fired, i never called a superior as i did not even know i would be missing 4 hrs of work- so this was a lie.
I do not have any write ups of diciplinary action, or freq absences.
I am a nurse and these things have nothing to do with my job performance. they labeled me as being insbordinate.

the new paper states i failed to get my ekg certification and the 4 hrs of a missed shift that i was not even aware of. everything else was taken out.
i should also mention that not everyone on my unit is ekg certified and yet i was the only one fired for it. people who have worked there for yrs, and me being there only 7 months.

is it legal for them to change their paper stating why i was terminated simply because my grievance probably proved them wrong. i am also newly preg and feel this may have contributed

What you "believe" and "feel" is irrelevant. It's also irrelevant that you're "pretty sure" some of the reasons you were given for being terminated were "illegal."

You have no legitimate "grievance."

 

[cbg]

Yes, they can change their reasons. As many times as they want.

Firing you for calling in sick is ONLY illegal if the time is attributable to FMLA.

It may not have been fair to fire you for not seeing your boss when you couldn't find her, but it was not illegal.

Nothing you have posted suggests a wrongful (illegal) termination.

I'll let Commentator address the issue of changed or changing reasons when it comes to unemployment, but it is NOT illegal.

 

[swalsh411]

You have a number of things going on here and you should separate. I also think you are distracted by trial matters.

also how can you fire someone for not seeing their boss when they asked, i seeked her out she wasnt available.

Because there is no law that says they cannot.

Does your employer know you are pregnant? If no then how could it have anything to do with your pregnancy? If it is impacting your work performance but you haven't told them you are pregnant then you can't hold that against them.

How long have you worked there, how many hours have you worked in the last year, and do they have 50 employees within 75 miles of your work location?

There is no law that says they cannot change their reason so long as both reasons are legal. That is strictly a matter of internal record keeping. They may have exposure if they knowingly slander you to third parties. It also may come up if they attempt to fight your unemployment. To be more accurate, the unemployment examiner will want to know if there was misconduct. They don't really care about the reason per se you were terminated. Speaking of which, have you filed for unemployment?

 

[commentator]

File for unemployment benefits while you look for another job. As long as you are able and available for work, the pregnancy shouldn't be an issue. State that you were terminated, were given this paperwork listing four reasons why they said you were terminated. Then you went back and asked them to clarify these reasons. (Incidentally none of the reasons was illegal.

It sounds as though they terminated you for the old "shotgun" reason, about four different issues that they cobbled together and said it made a termination.

The thing is, unemployment is the ONLY venue where it will make any difference why they say they terminated you. Otherwise, it's not a big deal. In an at-will state, they can terminate you any time, for any reason. There was no "illegal" reason.

Maybe unfair, maybe not in accordance with their policy, maybe they treated you differently than anyone else employed there, maybe they just plain old lied and made up a reason why they said you were fired. But it doesn't matter, the matter will be investigated to determine if you are eligible for unemployment benefits (out of work through no fault of your own, as in terminated without a good misconduct reason, when you had no control of your behavior and would not reasonably have been able to change your behavior and keep the job.)

Being absent due to illness with a medical excuse is considered unavoidable for unemployment purposes, so you're okay to draw benefits if they use that reason. Insubordination is something they generally should have a series of warnings and policies about.

The ekg certification might be misconduct, IF they told you to get it, you were given plenty of opportunities to get it and refused to do so. But nothing is going to be illegal that has been mentioned here. Unemployment insurance is your only possible recourse.

 

[Lkenny]

swalsh, my employer is and was aware that i am preg. it did not effect my work. i work full time 40 hr weeks for the last 7 months.

 

[swalsh411]

You haven't worked long enough to qualify for FMLA. How many employees are there?

 

[Lkenny]

its a small hospital, but it is apart of many small hospitals. so as a whole there are prob thousands of employees

 

[ESteele]

Often, employers advance specious reasons in an effort to cover invidious discrimination. OP, if you believe your employer terminated you because you are pregnant, then you should contact the EEOC or state or local FEPA and/or an employment law attorney to weigh your options under the anti-discrimination laws.

The fact your employer initially gave you four reasons for your discharge and then proffered two separate rationales (after you shot down the first four) suggests that all of these reasons were a manufactured “pretext.” If you can establish that your employer has not terminated other individuals under similar circumstances, then you may have a basis for pursuing a disparate treatment action to challenge your discharge.

 

[Hot Topic]

The OP "feels" that her pregnancy may be a reason for termination. She gives no examples to back up her claim.

 

[ESteele]

If the OP can establish that the multiple, changing reasons for her discharge appear pretextual, then she has more than enough evidence to support an inference of pregnancy discrimination.

 

[cbg]

If you look carefully, it's not that they came up with four reasons, she shot them down, and they came up with two more. Rather, the two reasons they ended with were both on the original list. One of them, that she didn't get her EKG certification, the poster admits is true - she did not get it until her termination.