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  1. #1

    Default Fired for an Attendance Policy Violation

    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: michigan

    Hi. I was fired from my job last week for attendance policy violation.
    I was given written warnings and progressive diciplines.
    The thing is, 95% of my call offs were due to sick children. Cant send to school sick.
    Also got written up gor tardies. Im late everyday by 5-10 minutes. I have been everyday for 4 years. This is because earliest i can drop kids off at school is 630am. Work starts at 7am and its slightly more than a 30 minute drive. Ive put that in writing when i first started working there. It was never a problem. Their are many other employees that do the same thing and they are still working there. At one point i was written up for a call off because my kids had lice. I provided a letter from school stating they werent allowed back until the lice were gone.

    We got a new(but had worked thete before)administrator that has never liked me. In fact for no reason she banned me from working in an entire part of the building. She had threatened to fire me, in front of coworkers)my 2nd week of employment for not having a walkie talkie(which isnt a company policy and which nobody else does)
    She wrote "piss poor" on a report i turned in and made me re do it...i made a copy and kept it.
    I filed unemployment, wondering what my chances are?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    1,179

    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    Your chances are probably pretty low if there was documented progressive discipline and you knew that your job was in jeopardy if you didn't stop missing work and being tardy. it was in your control to do so, and you didn't.

    I have children too...I know how hard their issues can be, but that said, you have to solve your child care problems rather than forcing the consequences on your employer. There are other solutions when kids are sick -- grandparents, other parent, friends, etc. There are other solutions to getting your kids to school and getting to work on time -- carpool, neighbors, etc. It is not up to your employer to give you timeoff every time your child is sick. None of what you stated would fall under protected FMLA timeoff. A letter from the school means nothing to the employer.

    your issues are separate from others -- you don't know what they have discussed with supervisors or HR or what plans they have in place. While something was not a problem when you first starting working there, it's been 4 years. Have you ever revisited the permission to be late every day? depending on your job, that's a lot of being late. Are you staying late to make up the time?

    it's tough, but you really need to come up with a backup plan that is not always you taking timeoff.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    I dont have family....my dad is in a nursing home, mom lives 4 hours away.
    I cant have neighbors driving my kids to school, they dont have kids and the ones that do have kids go to a different school.
    Being 5 minutes late doesnt impact my job performance whatsoever; im a nurse in a nursing home. Generally the midnight nurse isnt ready to give me report until 730 anyway, so their isnt much for me to do until i take report.
    In addition id say 25% of the staff comes in a few minutes late. Its always been that way.
    I was basically singled out because the administrator has some personal problem with me.
    And yeah, i typically end up staying over each shift to finish my work...not because im late but because the work load is too much. Most the nurses stay over 30-45 minutes to catch up on work.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
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    24,521

    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    None of which changes the fact that it was legal to terminate you and that your chances of unemployment are, at best, 50/50.

    I'm willing to be that the other staff members who come in a few minutes late regularly don't also call out regularly.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
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    1,142

    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    I'd say they're less than 50/50 if the employer is smart enough to stay on track and say they were firing you solely for attendance issues. Unless you happened to have taken the sick child to the doctor and have a medical excuse for the last absence, you can very easily be fired for missing work regardless of what personal reason it was related to (car won't start, child can't go to school, etc.) But if you have a medical excuse, though it can't help you with the company, it could possibly help with the unemployment insurance situation. Unemployment system looks at it that if you or someone you are responsible for was ill enough to need medical treatment, and you called in appropriately and notified your employer, they can terminate you but the unemployment system will be much more likely to approve your claim. You knew you were bordering on getting fired, so it would've been a very good move if you had taken your child to the doctor on that last time you called in.

    If they threw in all those other issues, the not having a walkie talkie, not being on time EVER for work, it would do nothing for their case. Attendance issues are all it takes, they only need one valid reason. For you to try to combat your termination by saying the supervisor doesn't like me, she wrote something insulting on my evaluation, etc. that is irrelevant. Has nothing to do with your attendance issues. All personal issues and reasons why you could or could not get to work that day are considered just that, personal, not the problem of the employer. They are not obligated to give you extra understanding because of your home situation.

    If they tell you, "If you miss one more time, you will be terminated" and you miss that one more time, without a medical excuse, they can fire you and it will be determined that you could've controlled your behavior and situation, and you still chose to miss, knowing that it would result in your termination. Therefore, it is very unlikely to be something approved for U.I. If you missed that last day due to a medical issue with a child, and you DID take the child to the doctor, go now and get a medical statement showing you were there and submit it to U.I.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    It's perfectly legal to fire you for absences/tardies due to your kids. Unfortunate but true. You say others do the same thing but are not fired - this could be a legal issue if you have good solid proof that you were fired (and others were not) specifically because of things such as your race, gender, religion, age (if you're over 40), and/or disability.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Fired for Attendance

    But when ee says good solid proof, that's exactly what she means. It will NOT be enough that employee A comes in late every day but is of a different race/gender etc. Unless Employee A comes in late every day AND has a history of frequent absences, written warnings and progressive disciplines, you've got no legal issue at all.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
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    Default Re: Fired for an Attendance Policy Violation

    Quote Quoting dead_onion
    View Post
    wondering what my chances are?
    If the decision is adverse, you "appeal" it (it's really a REdetermination), then appeal again. This second one will get you a hearing. In MI, you can get a free advocate. They're actually quit good. If an advocate can't get you benefits, then no one can.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Fired for an Attendance Policy Violation

    Quote Quoting chyvan
    View Post
    If the decision is adverse, you "appeal" it (it's really a REdetermination), then appeal again. This second one will get you a hearing. In MI, you can get a free advocate. They're actually quit good. If an advocate can't get you benefits, then no one can.
    This is the advice you need to listen to OP. Meanwhile, keep looking for new employment. While you are doing that, look at your child care plan and see if there isn't some way you can adjust it to meet your needs. Perhaps consider a different shift.

    Your termination was most probably legal. What your co-workers have been doing is not relevant and you don't have the whole story anyway- so concentrate on moving forward toward a new job and a way to ensure you aren't habitually tardy in the future.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
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    1,142

    Default Re: Fired for an Attendance Policy Violation

    An appeal with or without a free advocate cannot change the circumstances of your final absence. If I were this person, I'd definitely file and I'd definitely appeal, it's always an okay thing to do this, but I'd also take the advice to begin looking for new employment and not to feel at all hopeful about getting unemployment approval in this situation. It is quite legal to terminate someone for absenteeism and/or tardiness regardless of the reasons or treat them differently than others who work there if it is not proved to be because of an EEOC connected reason. For some reason, people sometimes think that if their problems with getting to work on time, or getting to work, period, or the number of times they are forced to miss work should be excused specially if they are related to their personal circumstances, such as being a single mother, or having a disabled person to care for. But unfortunately, our laws haven't caught that one up yet.

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