kingofdodge7131

although i do agree that its aburden on the rest of the company. people take time off all the times. And she tried to switch as many hours as she could. not like she just up and quit. She did learn about a deal our local hospital has, basically takes care of kids that are slightly sick. And her employer knew it. its not a awesome job, she worked at Panera bread. a deli. but oh well thanks for the info

darkvader

as a VERY SMALL business owner(3 employees) I agree with mexstan. one person out is 33.3% of my work force. When hired they are told it they are are part of a team and as such there ability to show up is part of thier job description. Its not my problem they are a single parent,day care, illiness,bad hair day. Have backup as you have commited to me to do your job. Why did you not take care of the dhild and tell your employer you needed to take four days off.
Clark

kingofdodge7131

I totally agree with you darkvader. I myself and just a diesel mechanic for a fleet and am currently working on my own shop. I have one guy that I hired to come in and help due to the amount of work. That in itself cost me a lil bit for insurance and what nots. Then he hasnt shown up 3 times i had to let him go, I have a family too and although i am starting a new buisness and am making the name good, I dont need to take on work for 2 guys just to do it myself, I was doing just fine with just myself you know? And at my day job i hate it whenever im there alone. It happens quite a lot as there are only 2 truck mechanics there. but life goes on. Overall shes fine i bet shell get right over it

Equalizer 2

Sorry to hear this but encourage her to make the most of it. I lost a job through politics several years back and then found the one I now have. I really liked the job I had and the location. With the new job I had to move and needless to say it was tough starting again.

Anyway I could go back and thumb my nose at them but that would be stooping to their level. My current job paid at least a 1/3 more than my previous job so I am much better off financially. Make the most of a bad situation. Good luck to both of you.

PourinDiesel

Thats illegal. FMLA is federal law and covers her.

I would google FMLA and you will come up with plenty of info.
I would also contact the employer again and speak with their labor relations or HR director and request her job be re-instated or give them notice that you will be hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit for unlawful dismissal and will seek damages (under federal FMLA law), also let them know that you have contacted the department of labor.

new2ctd

FMLA requires 30 days prior notice and then it is an absence of more than her 6 days. so FMLA doesn't help here at all. it covers birth and initial care, adoption/foster care and/or 'serious medical condition'

She can however file a complaint with the EEOC; a complaint of discriminatory firing.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
1-800-669-4000 (voice)

Of course the burden is on her. What is the validity of the illness, history of absence, notice given to employer, employers prior written policy regarding absence...

DSjockey

Stan, Please accept my apology, I read that post and it really just hit me in a bad way.
Even though I now work for a large company that is owned by a even larger company I have spent years working for small company’s anywhere from a shop where I was the sole employee to several that have less than 10 employees (including doing my own jobs some of which I need help with) so I do have a understanding for the problems that small business owners face. That said a small business owner needs to have a “plan B”, we are talking about people not machines, and pretty much all of us will, get sick, have a problem with the kids, have personal business that must be taken care of etc. etc. and while we will all try to prevent that from interfering with our work schedule sometimes it can’t be helped. I strongly disagree with the “hardcore” business attitude that people are disposable throw them under the bus, I think this attitude is symptomatic of what is wrong with business in the world today

Off my soapbox now, I hope this works out for your GF kingofdodge, hopefully a better job is down the road

PourinDiesel

Sorry but your wrong...

How it Works:

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act, covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee
for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care
to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition
to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.
Who's Eligible:

An FMLA eligible employee is an employee who has been employed by the employer for a least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours. The 12 months do not need to be consecutive. You are only an eligible employee if your employer employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles of the worksite.

Additional Information:

FMLA may be taken on an intermittent basis allowing the employee to work on a less than full-time schedule.
If you are covered by health insurance, your employer must maintain that coverage while you are on leave.
If your manager isn't aware of the FMLA guidelines, check with the Human Resources department directly.

new2ctd

Well that's what I said PD. Serious Medical condition.

Pink Eye and flu don't count towards FMLA

So unexpected hospitilization, unexpected injury fine. but getting a cold doesn't qualify AND the leave would have be issued in more than 6 day stints.
That's what I mean by "then it is an absence of more than her 6 days"

I've done this before for the birth of my kids. I've done it recently because of my chemo and my wife is in HR too. So I have a first hand understanding of what it takes to get it approved.

It simply doesn't cover being off for 4 days this week and 2 days a couple weeks ago.

But the EEOC does review this kind of thing.

onebadgoat

Yes this is true in some ways but once the child is on a antibiotic pink eye is no longer contagious and can continue to day care. Most of the time you dont even have to take your child to the Dr. for pink eye, you can just call your Dr. tell them your child has pink eye and they will send in a prescription. So all in all you can call you dr. go get the meds. and give them to your child and they can stay at day care. The only way pink eye can really become serious is if you ignore it and if you have ever had pink eye I dont know how anyone could ignore it.

Not trying to defend her employer or anything at all because they should not have fired her. I personally think she just needs to find a new job but thats just MY opinion because if she got the job back her boss would be a little upset and would probably fire her again for the first thing he/she could.

2500

there's the law... and there's common sense.

was a small business employer for 15+ years. it's hard to find suitable employees and to get them trained. people know when you can get by without them for short periods and when you can't.

if you go suing former employers, future employers could get cold feet. so you'd better have an awful gooood reason to do so.

everyone's situation is a little different. for instance an air traffic controller cannot give excuses. vs a retailer with 50 employees, that others could take up the slack.

I say... make the best of a bad situation and find another better place to work. don't give the former employer reasons to give a bad reference.

Mexstan

[QUOTE=DSjockey;1654757]Stan, Please accept my apology, I read that post and it really just hit me in a bad way.

Apology accepted. Just because I stated the situation from a business point of view does NOT mean that I agree with it. As a former business owner I always tried to accommodate my employees, but sometimes it was not possible if the business was to survive.

PourinDiesel

Not to argue but I have processed MANY FMLA claims with a former position I held as a Union shop steward. I agree you might not get by with Pink Eye but it is possible it could be accepted depending on how the doctor words the form.

Intermittent is just that. It means you can take anywhere from 1 hour to a day at a time up to the approval amount max being 480 hours per rolling 12 month period.

Yeah..I've got some experience with it too!

There is no provision in the federal FMLA guidelines that require 30 days notice to be off from work if the need was not known prior to the 30 days ie like immediate sickness, surgery requirements, injury, etc. 30 day clause is for a forseeable illness or scheduled surgery or the like.

Intermittent FMLA can be used for people with things like Migraines....
ie: "I have a headache and I wont be in" or "I have a headache I am going home"

Believe what you want though.....

Proud Rebel

Sorry to hear about the children being sick and your gf's problems. I hope I can offer you some help with this. Please call the Equal Employment Opportunity Comission and ask them about this, it sounds to me she might have a legit complaint about this and could possibly have a law suit brought against her former employer. From what I understand they have to allow her to go on whats called FMLA leave, (Family Medical Leave Act) which means she can take some time off for child care. I would seriously have her check into this!! Hope I helped.

Proud Rebel

From what I understand about references that former employers cant give bad referals all they can say is yes you worked there from this time to this time. I believe thats all they can say and this is info from our HR manager at our plant.