Fired and had FMLA

[hjfesing]

Wednesday I had gone to my HR dept asking for her to look at my personnel file. I had been tardy a few times in recent months due to my alarm not going off and had not had any form or verbal or written warnings, so I wanted to double check the status of my "points".

When she looked, my file had only had a verbal warning that was done over a year prior. She told me she would look into it and get back to me.

Thursday morning, my alarm didn't go
Off again, and I was 45 minutes late. Later that afternoon, I was finally given a print out of my "points" through 8/20 (I had gone to her office on 9-28). I was at 5 1/2 points, but when I told my wife, one of the dates stuck out to her as a date that was FMLA approved from April. She contacted the HR dept to
Giver her a heads up.

On 9/30, I went to work and after several
Hours, I had been called to
The office of the plant manager. I thought I would get a wrote up for my tardy the previous day. Instead, I was fired! He had treated the previous tardy, and the tardy before as I was a NO CALL NO SHOW. I was there both days, just tardy. I was sent out the door with termination due to being over the allotted 8 points.

After I told my wife and we were going over the dates to file for Unemployment, she noticed that another point was more than likely FMLA. I verified the date and for sure, it was also an approved absence!!

So, not only did my company NOT follow their policy book with giving me 1/2 a point for my tardies, but one of the points they terminated me with was an approved FMLA absence!

There's more...another employee was tardy the same day (although it was his 2nd of the week), and we got to work at the same
Time. I received a no call no show, yet all he received was being told to shape up. Had he been given the same amount of points that I was for his tardies, he would've been fired too!

I know that is valid discrimination....we were
Treated completely differently!

I want my job back! I have a family who I provide for! I was with this company almost 9 years and have never had attendance issues like these tardies. I just don't want to have to worry about this plant manager of I get my job back. He actually laughed at me during the termination meeting!

What are my rights??

 

[FlyingRon]

You don't indicate what state you are in.

FMLA doesn't cover you're persistent tardiness to the job. The company is not obligated to warn you. The fact that ONE of your chronic tardiness can be excused because you actually had FMLA doesn't excuse your overall pattern of behavior.

What happens to other employees is largely IMMATERIAL to you. There's no requirement that an employer treat all the employees the same. The only discrimination that is prohibited is one based on an employees race, religion, etc....

You weren't fired for one tardy or no show, apparently, but a chronic inability to get to work as scheduled.
You don't appear to have a chance at the forcing them to take you back.

Apply for UI and hope you aren't disqualified.

 

[Zigner]

You really need to get a different alarm clock or other method of waking you up for work. Once is a fluke, twice is a problem.

 

[eerelations]

Agree with FlyingRon, this termination was perfectly legal.

Absent a contract that states otherwise, you were an at-will employee. This means your former employer was legally free to fire you, without warning, for pretty much any reason, including being tardy once. Whether or not your former employer chooses to fire other employees for the same reason has nothing to do with your situation.

(And your excuse that your alarm clock repeatedly didn't go off? Bogus. I've been using the same old clunker clock radio to wake me up for over 25 years now, and not once has it failed me. If your clock had been repeatedly failing you as you say, you would have bought a new one.)

 

[Zigner]

(And your excuse that your alarm clock repeatedly didn't go off? Bogus. I've been using the same old clunker clock radio to wake me up for over 25 years now, and not once has it failed me. If your clock had been repeatedly failing you as you say, you would have bought a new one.)

I use my phone - and I generally wake up about 2 minutes before the alarm goes off. On those rare occasions that the alarm DOESN'T go off, it's been my fault, not the phone.

Same goes for alarm clocks I had before that. "...my alarm not going off" isn't the fault of the alarm.

 

[hjfesing]

Tardy

I was tardy 3 times in 5 months. And yes, I did buy another alarm clock after my 2nd tardy. My phone had actually failed when I moved to another room to sleep with my sick 2 year old.

 

[hjfesing]

Fmla

Also, my FMLA was NOT for a tardy. It was for an absence that they were holding against me.

 

[hjfesing]

I also clearly know this was my fault!! I am fully agreeable to take the points for being tardy. The fact that the handbook states a tardy in under 59 minutes should be 1/2 a point! I would accept that. I'm not one to argue my wrong doings. I take responsibility for being late. But I WAS there! They are saying I didn't snow up at all, yet my punches show otherwise.

 

[FlyingRon]

You seem to think that the "points" mean something. Unless they're spelled out in a collective bargaining agreement or other employment contract, they mean nothing.

You weren't fired because you took medical leave. FMLA is not designed to protect you from anything but being out on the leave.

 

[hjfesing]

But what about the fact that they used "points" to fire me. It's stated right in the letter that I was terminated due to points being over their allowed amount of 8

One of those points cannot be held against me because it was FMLA.

 

[FlyingRon]

Listen carefully: THEY DON'T NEED A REASON TO FIRE YOU.
They can fire you because you have 5 points or because you come in late or because they don't like people who wear tennis shoes to work.

The reasons they can't fire you:

You're black.
You're Jewish.
You are returning from an approved medical absence covered by FMLA alone.
etc...

 

[TigerD]

Listen carefully: THEY DON'T NEED A REASON TO FIRE YOU.
They can fire you because you have 5 points or because you come in late or because they don't like people who wear tennis shoes to work.

The reasons they can't fire you:

You're black.
You're Jewish.
You are returning from an approved medical absence covered by FMLA alone.
etc...

That may not be correct.
We don't yet know which nation's or state's laws apply. They might need a reason.

TD

 

[eerelations]

That may not be correct.
We don't yet know which nation's or state's laws apply. They might need a reason.

TD

That's right!!! OP, if you're in the US, then everything we've said to you is legally accurate. However, if you're outside the US...who knows? No one here (well, I'm in Canada so I might know, but I'm not going to sit here and recite Canadian law to you unless you tell me you're in Canada).

 

[hjfesing]

WI....so yes, we are an at will employment state.

 

[cbg]

There is only one state where they need a reason, and even in that state they only need a reason sometimes.

That state is NOT Wisconsin.

I'm not seeing anything illegal in the termination.