I have been discharged from my position after filing for short term disibility. My employer was aware of the surgery I was scheduled for and they terminated my employment 2 days after I applied for the disibility. I was employed there for 8 yrs. Do I have any legal recourse? Please let me know if you have any of the same experience....


Unemployed and angry!!!

1. What reason did your employer give you for the termination?
2. How many employees does this company have at the site at which you work and within a 75-mile radius?
3. Had you taken any leave time in the 12 months prior to this? If so, for what reason?

I was terminated for "misconduct associated with work" . I had a hearing with unemployment and they deemed the reason "incorrect". My employer has a total of about 1500 employees and I would say 75% of those are within a 75 mile radius. I haven't taken any leave time in 4 yrs. Please Help!!!!

I was terminated for "misconduct associated with work"

I'm not trying to play twenty questions with you but in order to appropriately respond, I need all the relevant information.

What sort of misconduct are they alleging you engaged in? In order to determine whether there was any violation of the law, we need to know whether the employer had a legitimate reason for discharging you.

The reason was being late more than 3 times in a year. When I spoke to the unemployment adjudicator, he said that if I don't punch some type of time clock (which I didn't) they can't consider it misconduct. My human resourses department was unaware of my applying for short term disability because they hadn't received the papers back yet. When I was terminated, the Dr still had my paperwork. I was also wondering if the FMLA applies to in-laws as well as parents. I missed one day (without pay) because my father-in-law had a severe stroke and I chose to be at the hospital that day. My employer said my priorities were not correct because I chose to be at the hopsital. My father-in-law passed away, and my priorities weren't correct!

If your employer didn't know you were applying for short-term disability because you hadn't returned the paperwork yet, then how can that be a factor in your dismissal? If your employer consistently applied their absentee and disciplinary policy to you, just as they would to any other similarly situationed employee, then nothing illegal transpired.

The FMLA does not apply to in-laws, although your desire to be at the hospital that day is understandable.

BTW, whether you do or do not receive unemployment benefits has nothing to do with whether you were legally fired.

My boss was fully aware of what was transpiring with the disability. He did not inform the human resources department of the disability until AFTER I was terminated. That is my main question... I know they can terminate your employment at any time in Illinois as Illinois is an "at will employer" state. There were no warnings leading up to this termination. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I have no idea where else to turn, if anywhere at all.....

The question then becomes, who decided to fire you? If it was your boss, knowing that you were applying for STD, it MIGHT (depending on the exact circumstances) be illegal. If it was HR, who did not know you were applying for disability benefits, it is not illegal because their decision had nothing to do with your application for benefits.

BTW, being on disability leave, or even applying for disabilty leave, is NOT a guaranteed job protection. STD benefits are income replacement, NOT a job protected leave. IF you were also going on FMLA, THEN it would be illegal to fire you BECAUSE you were going on leave (but not because you had violated company policy). Contrary to what many people appear to believe, there is nothing illegal about terming someone while they are on disability leave.

It was my bosses decision to terminate me. HR only became involved on the day the termination was effective. Thanks for clearing some of this up for me. I beleive that my place of employment is alittle nervous about me possibly going to the press, they have done many, many things to keep their name away from bad publicity and I just may be benefit from that.