Suing Your Employer for Terminating Employment Due to Illness
Experiencing employment termination due to an illness is a frustrating reality. Here’s what you need to know about suing your employer for employment termination due to illness.
Employers may fire at-will employees for any reason at any time. However, an employer may not terminate employment if a state or federal law protects the employee’s absence.
What is an at-will employee?
Employers do not need good cause to fire an at-will employee. An employee’s at-will status enables employers to terminate employment for any reason, at any time. Every state except Montana permits employers to adopt at-will policies for company employees. Montana is the only state protecting employees from employment termination without cause after completing a probationary period.
Related: Does Cheating Affect Alimony in California?
At-will policies often provide inconvenient circumstances for employees who may suddenly have employment terminated for a seemingly unfair reason. The dynamic can create a stressful or uncomfortable environment for employees who do not feel secure at work. Unfortunately, firing an employee for being sick may fall under an employer’s at-will policies depending on the circumstances. Yet, the law does offer some protections for at-will employees and could extend to sick employees under specific situations.
Federal Protections for At-Will Employees
While the law suggests employers can legally fire an at-will employee at random, federal statutes exist to cover employees under strenuous conditions.
Federal laws protecting at-will employees include:
- The Family and Medical Leave Act, and
- The Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Family Medical Leave Act
According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides qualifying employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. FMLA also extends group health benefits protection to employees during leave. The law endows employees with the opportunity to take unpaid leave to handle personal and medical reasons.
FMLA applies to the following groups:
- All public agencies,
- All public and private elementary and secondary schools, and
- Companies with 50 or more employees.
The DOL says employers must provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave each year for any of the following reasons:
- The birth and care of an employee’s newborn child,
- Placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care,
- Care for an immediate family member (i.e., spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition, or
- Take medical leave when the employee cannot work because of a serious health condition.
Related: California Wage Deduction FAQs
An employee qualifies for leave under the FMLA if:
- The employee has worked for an employer for at least 12 months,
- The employee has worked for an employer at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and
- The employee works at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.
An employee who takes time off work due to pregnancy complications does count against the FMLA’s 12 weeks. A 2008 amendment to the law affords additional protections to military families in need of specific accommodations.
An employee fired for being sick should carefully consult FMLA’s terms to determine if an employer violated the law. An employee may have solid grounds for an FMLA interference claim if an employer attempts to prevent the employee from taking leave. More importantly, the employee could have an FMLA retaliation claim if the employer fires you for taking the leave.
The Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law protecting individuals with disabilities in the workplace. The statute could offer protection to employees who have become sick enough times to qualify as a disability.
The ADA defines a disability in three ways if:
- A person has a physical or mental condition substantially limiting a major life activity (i.e., walking, talking, seeing, hearing, or learning),
- A person has a history of a disability (such as cancer currently in remission), or
- A person appears to have a physical or mental impairment considered not transitory (lasting or expected to last six months or less) and minor (even if the person does not have such an impairment).
A sick employee may have difficulty proving the illness falls under the ADA but could prove a disability is causing the sickness. While the ADA does not directly enable employees to take leave, it does allow employees to request reasonable accommodations, including time off or a modified work schedule.
An employer who denies a sick employee protections the ADA offers could have grounds for wrongful termination depending on the situation.
FAQs About “I Was Fired for Being Sick. Can I Sue My Employer?”
My illness falls under ADA protections. Can I request any accommodation I want?
No, an employer does not have to provide reasonable accommodations creating undue hardship for the company. Accommodations requiring significant difficulty or expense for the employer relative to the company’s size and resources qualify as creating undue hardship.
Do any state laws allow me to take sick leave?
Numerous states, such as California and Connecticut, possess laws mandating employers to offer paid sick leave to employees. Some cities such as San Francisco and New York City have followed suit. An employee working in a city or state choosing to offer paid sick leave has the right to take leave without any consequence. An employer who fires an employee in retaliation for taking paid sick leave has likely violated the state or city law.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one would like to learn more about Can I Sue My Employer? get your free consultation with one of our Employment Attorneys in California today!