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  1. #1

    Default Fired While on Medical Leave for an Injury

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Texas
    My husband was fired yesterday while out on medical leave. He took a week of vacation the last week of October, and got a bacterial infection in his foot. The first day he was to go back his foot was swollen so bad he could not put pressure on it so he let them know he was not able to come in that day and went to the DR. The dr wrote him out for 10 days and gave him antibiotics. ON 14Nov he was admitted into the hospital because the infection had gotten so bad and was on IV's for 4 days. When he was released by the Dr the week before Thanksgiving, he turned in his paper work to return to the job and they scheduled him for "worksteps", a program to verify his fitness to return to work. At work steps they found that his blood pressure was 170/90 and the HR person called him and said they would not return him to work until he could pass a DOT physical. He went to the Dr and got on blood pressure medication and passed his DOT physical the next week. Then he called HR for the company and they told him he had to be scheduled for work steps again but the HR lady that handled that would not be back until the first of the year. They called him yesterday and said they had tried to contac him several times the week of 27Dec and he did not return the calls so he was being seperated from the company. He tried to get in touch with them several times during the whole ordeal and they kept telling him that he didn't have to call all the time, just call when he got the Dr release. He spoke with the short term disability people and they said they would keep paying him until he was release from his DOT physical, at no time did they tell him he was in danger of losing his job, and we looked at out cell phone records and there is no record of any calls made to him from the Company offices from 12/21 - 1/5 when he called back to try and schedule his worksteps to return to the job. What should he do at this point? Was he wrongfully terminated. (the holidays played a part in all of this with serveral short workweeks making it difficult to get him in for appointments and scheduling his worksteps) He really likes this company. He had only worked for them 9 months and had just transfered to this location a month before he got the infection.)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
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    Somewhere near Canada
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    35,894

    Default Re: Fired While on Medical Leave

    Quote Quoting countrygirl1
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    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Texas
    My husband was fired yesterday while out on medical leave. He took a week of vacation the last week of October, and got a bacterial infection in his foot. The first day he was to go back his foot was swollen so bad he could not put pressure on it so he let them know he was not able to come in that day and went to the DR. The dr wrote him out for 10 days and gave him antibiotics. ON 14Nov he was admitted into the hospital because the infection had gotten so bad and was on IV's for 4 days. When he was released by the Dr the week before Thanksgiving, he turned in his paper work to return to the job and they scheduled him for "worksteps", a program to verify his fitness to return to work. At work steps they found that his blood pressure was 170/90 and the HR person called him and said they would not return him to work until he could pass a DOT physical. He went to the Dr and got on blood pressure medication and passed his DOT physical the next week. Then he called HR for the company and they told him he had to be scheduled for work steps again but the HR lady that handled that would not be back until the first of the year. They called him yesterday and said they had tried to contac him several times the week of 27Dec and he did not return the calls so he was being seperated from the company. He tried to get in touch with them several times during the whole ordeal and they kept telling him that he didn't have to call all the time, just call when he got the Dr release. He spoke with the short term disability people and they said they would keep paying him until he was release from his DOT physical, at no time did they tell him he was in danger of losing his job, and we looked at out cell phone records and there is no record of any calls made to him from the Company offices from 12/21 - 1/5 when he called back to try and schedule his worksteps to return to the job. What should he do at this point? Was he wrongfully terminated. (the holidays played a part in all of this with serveral short workweeks making it difficult to get him in for appointments and scheduling his worksteps) He really likes this company. He had only worked for them 9 months and had just transfered to this location a month before he got the infection.)


    Well, that appears to rule out FMLA.

    He should file for unemployment. This is also not an wrongful termination.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Fired While on Medical Leave

    No, he was not wrongfully terminated. There is no law that says you cannot be termed while on medical leave.

    Since FMLA did not apply, he not having worked there long enough, they were not under any legal obligation to provide any medical leave at all.

    I am not an expert on DOT regulations, but it is my understanding that they CANNOT return him to work until he passes his DOT physical. And if his allowable leave time (which, with no FMLA, is whatever the company says it is) runs out before that, then they can legally fire him. It has nothing to do with who called who when.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Fired While on Medical Leave

    Does he get no credit for giving them the paper work saying he was released to go back to work and them dragging their feet another 2 weeks and then releasing him for being out too long. Also, I found out today, they didn't make him take a DOT physical, he just went to the Dr and got on blood pressure medication and got another release to go back to work. This was the one he got on 12/21. He was ready and willing to work when he was released for his foot, they would not let him until his blood pressure was down saying he couldn't pass a DOT physical, but they never scheduled him for one before he could return to work. They just wouldn't put him back on the schedule. He had 2 different Dr releases and they wouldn't let him come back and then fired him for being out too long. It just doesn't add up to me.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Fired While on Medical Leave

    and the plot thickens, now they are saying they are not paying his short term disability thru the date of termination, because he had a dr release to got back to work on 21DEC. He was never told that, and they never let him go back to work. i realize texas is an employment at will state but that is pretty crappy to fire someone for not working and you won't let them work so then you fire them for not working.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Fired While on Medical Leave

    If you mean, is the law going to force them to "credit" him for giving them the doctor's release, no, it is not. Particularly not if his job is subject to DOT regs. They MAY NOT let him return to work until he passes the DOT physical if it is, no matter how many doctor's releases he provides.

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