Hello Everyone, One of my best friends has been fighting cancer for the past year or so, he's been in and out of work thru this time depending on the medications he's been on, because some of them he's not allowed to drive on.
He just got a letter in the mail from his company saying that he's no longer employeed. Is that legal?

Possibly. Under federal law, there are potentially two issues.

If the employer has 50 or more employees it must give your friend 12 weeks unpaid leave including intermittent leave (FMLA). Once that leave is exhausted, and after considering the next issue (below), the employment may be terminated.

If the employer has 15 or more employees then it must reasonably accommodate a disability. Cancer is considered a disability. A certain amount of absence may be a reasonable accommodation. It is possible in some circumstances that longer than the FMLA 12 weeks could be required as a reasonable accommodation for a disability, but that is unlikely. So, the reasonableness of the accommodation depends on a lot of facts. Two things are clear: attendance at work is an essential function, so too much absence need not be tolerated; and indefinite leaves of absence are not required.

I'm not sure how New Hampshire laws may affect the above.

I hope that helps.

A few clarifications:

1.) It takes more than the employer having 50 or more employees. Those 50 employees must be within 75 miles of the employee's location AND the employee must have worked for this employer for no less than 12 months AND the employee must have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours for this employer in the last 12 months. It takes all three criteria before FMLA applies.

2.) The ONLY condition that is automatically covered under the ADA is HIV/AIDS. EVERY other condition, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, has to be looked at on a case by case basis.