I was employed with a city government agency. During a six week training class I became ill prior to work one morning. The illness required an emergency room visit. I missed two days of class due to the illness. The attending physican indicated I should not work for the those two days.

I was terminated. The HR Department indicated the firing was due to my medical condition causing me to miss class. They also would not allow me the opportuntity to return to class. The arbitrarily made the assumption that after missing two days of class I could not catch up.

Do I have any recourse against the employer? Also should I be eligible for unemployment. The illness occured on the 11th day of training.

Thank you.;)

It's a widely held misconception that you cannot be terminated for medical reasons. Unless both you and the employer qualify under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you did not have job protection. You would be covered by FMLA if:

1. You had a serious medical condition.
2. You'd worked for the employer more than 1 year.
3. You'd worked more than 1250 hours in the past year.
4. The employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles of your job site.

Additionally, what you have described does not meet the definition of a serious health condition as defined in the FMLA statute.

Wow.....It is really unfortunate. Maybe I can qualify for unemployment until I can secure another job. Looks like workers would have sometype of protection.

I appreciate the replies. So I guess it would not be worth my time to consult and attorney?

If FMLA does not apply, and based solely on what you have posted it would not appear to, then the fact that your absence was for a medical reason does not offer you any protection and no laws were violated.

Many attorneys will do an initial consultation for a modest fee, so if it would put your mind at rest to consult one, please do so. I would also encourage you to file for unemployment.

The law tries to balance protections for both employees and employers, which is why there are limits on job-protected leave under FMLA. As I've noted here before, I was in a serious car accident on my second day of a new job. I had no FMLA protections because I hadn't worked there a year. So, I do sympathize. Sometimes timing is everything in life, and my timing was not good in that instance.

In NC employment law there is no balance. The employer has all the rights. Sounds like you were an employee at will, which means you are out of luck. They can fire you for any reason, even an unfair reason.