hi, i work as a server at a fairly "large chain" restaraunt. yesterday i went home from work early because i was not feeling well. i could not stop throwing up. i called into work today to let them know that i have the flu and i am still not feeling well, and they told me that its the busiest day of the year (being valentine's day) and if i did not show up tonight, i would need a doctor's note to come back to work. is this allowed? i've been doing some research, and all i can find is information that other states have that says you do not need a note if you're only missing 1 day of work. i just dont see why i need to pay $15 for someone else to tell me i have the flu, to stay home, and get some rest. besides, its a saturday and most offices are closed. i normally dont even work on saturdays because i work my other job. however they asked me a week ago if i could come in after my other job because of how busy they planned on it being. i think this whole scenario is ridiculous. is it really legal for them to fire me if i dont come back with a note?

It is against the rules of this cite to name your employer, plus we have heard stories of posters being (legally) fired for complaining about their employer on a public BB. So recommend you edit your post to delete the company name; it's irrelevant anyway.

But, to your question, I don't know what you've been reading, but there is no LAW in ANY state that prohibits the employee from requiring a doctor's note to either excuse your absence or to allow you to return to work. Personally, I think it's overkill, but it isn't illegal and firing you for not providing it would be legal also. You would almost certainly qualify for unemployment benefits in that situation, though.

Please do as patty suggest and remove your employers name

But, to your question, I don't know what you've been reading, but there is no LAW in ANY state that prohibits the employee from requiring a doctor's note to either excuse your absence or to allow you to return to work. Personally, I think it's overkill, but it isn't illegal and firing you for not providing it would be legal also. You would almost certainly qualify for unemployment benefits in that situation, though.

here's a link to where i had heard people mention not needing a note... its a very similar situation too. except its 5-6 years ago
http://chat.lawinfo.com/doctors_note_required-t5681/index.html?

You did notice that was a chat board, like this one and the person who said that did not provide a cite to any law that backed up what he was saying, right? Nor do you know the qualifications of that person.

Now, I know you don't know ours, either. However, if you can find an actual LAW that prohibits the employer from requiring a doctor's note for a 1-day absence (except when intermittent FMLA is involved), please feel free to post it. Thousand of HR Professionals throughout the country will be :eek: .

Interesting posting, but I will note that the people who claim that there is a law supporting their position do not actually cite any laws. That is another way of saying that anyone who actually follows their advise is in a very weak position should the employer call their bluff. [Hey, employer, you can't fire me for violating a company policy because some guy on the internet whose real name I do not know cited some law whose name I also do not know that I am right and you are wrong.] Yeah. Right. That argument always goes over real big with employers.

The counter argument goes something like this.
- There is a very long established Common Law legal principal called Employment At Will, that basically says either the employee or employer can end the employment relationship at any time without a specific reason. There are exceptions but the exceptions are narrowly defined and often state specific. And this is a legal principal that is very well documented and can be easily researched by anyone interested. It is not one of those "I-am-right-because-the-law-says-so-but-I-will-not-actually-give-you-a-legal-reference" type of answers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will
- The key to the OP's question is not whether a law exists that allows the employer to require a doctor's note (no such law exists in any state) but rather is there a law that says the employer cannot fire the employee using Employment At Will because the employee failed to provide a doctor's note. FMLA is maybe such a law, but it is a very narrowly defined law applying only to certain people on medical leave and this law does not so much prevent the doctor note requirement as establish rules for the requirement.

If some one says the employer cannot ask for a doctor's note, ask them exactly which law gets around the Employment At Will rules. Anything is possible, but saying so does not make it true. What exceptions that do exist tend to be very specific. Like say a WC claim in the right state might invoke certain rules on doctor handling that overrides employer policies. But this is a very long ways from saying that a general employer policy requring doctor notes is 100% wrong 100% of the time.

There is no law in any state that says you must bring in a doctor's note after any particular number of days.

There is also no law in any state that prohibits your employer from requiring that you bring in a doctor's note after any particular number of days (some exceptions with FMLA apply).

The fact that no law requires it does not mean that the employer is forbidden to ask for one.