Even the most dedicated professional may sometimes require medical leave. When serious health challenges arise, employees often have the right to take unpaid leave. They may also be eligible for paid leave depending on their employment contract and benefits package.
Whether an employee requests unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave or a paid form of medical leave offered by their employer, they have legal protection from retaliation. Their employer should not punish them for requesting necessary medical leave to undergo treatment or recuperate from a medical challenge.
What happens if an employer terminates a worker during medical leave?
Retaliatory terminations are unlawful
Employers can use at-will employment statutes to justify terminating a worker for almost any reason that does not violate the law. In fact, employers do not even need to provide a specific reason for firing an individual employee.
However, the circumstances surrounding a termination can potentially raise questions about the legality of the company’s choice. When a company chooses to terminate a worker while they are on medical leave, the worker may immediately assume their leave was the true underlying reason.
Employers may offer questionable explanations, such as eliminating positions or having had prior issues with the employee’s job performance. The timing of the termination and the potential lack of internal documentation supporting the claim that the termination was for cause can undermine an employer’s claim and strengthen the workers’ ability to take legal action.
State statutes prohibit terminating a worker due to family or medical leave. The FMLA also protects workers by mandating that employers let them return to the same position or a substantially similar role within the company that offers the same compensation. When employers respond to appropriate medical leave by punishing the worker instead of allowing them to return to their job and accommodating any limitations they may have, the worker may have experienced an actionable wrongful termination. They may be able to file a lawsuit to hold their employer accountable.
Proving that a company violated the law and a worker’s rights can result in reinstatement or compensation for the economic impact of wrongful termination. Workers fired while on medical leave may need to review the situation with an experienced employment law attorney to evaluate whether they can potentially take legal action.