I took my vacation to handle some personal medical issues. During my vacation time I became very ill and required in-patient care. The hospital faxed my excuse to my employer upon admittance to the hospital. The fax was sent 3 days before my scheduled date to return to work and clearly stated that I would remain in-patient for a specified amount of time.

Upon dis-charge I called telling my boss that I was on my way home (I was several hundred miles from home) and was told I had been terminated and they filled my position.

OKAY, I applied for un-employment and was denied for violating company policy for not properly contacting them (my employer).

I just had a hearing in-person and was told that the "Burden of Proof" was on the employer not me the employee. The employer argues that they did not receive the fax until 3 days after I was to return to work.

When the hearing started the very first thing my former employer stated was that he could not be certain when the fax was received.

I had a letter supporting the original Dr's excuse and that I was in-patient un-able to work and that the hospital indeed faxed the excuse upon admittance and that they had a receipt. I DIDN'T HAVE A COPY OF THE FAX RECEIPT DURING THE HEARING.

Since the burden of proof is on the employer and they clearly stated that they did not know when the faxed was received, shouldn't I win?

I work in an at will state. I know of two other employees that were terminated for violation of policy and simply went to the EO and started getting benefits, can employers select who they fight? These people were fired for blatant policy issues and are still getting help.

Any input would remain greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
4 months no work or benfits

What is your company's sick leave and disability policy? It appears to me they may have violated that by terminated you while out sick. Even in an at will state, you may have a wrongful termination case.

But yes, if you have a statement from the hospital that they have a receipt for the fax, you should win.

Scott I hope I do win. Hindsight is 20/20 had I known that the entire issue would morph into WHEN they received the fax I would have said a lot less than I did in the hearing. To me by stating they were not certain of the date received that would be IT, as they hold the burden of proof. I had documents stating where I was and when, they would have to prove differently. Company policy is to make a personal effort to contact the company directly however there are circumstances where that is not possible and this was the case.

See if there is an employment law attorney in your area. Although they may not help you through an unemployment hearing, with the economy the way it is and the way that you were terminated you may have grounds for damages for the wrongful termination.

Why did you rely on the hospital to fax something. Did you ever call these people up and speak to a person about your hospital stay from the first day you were there? From the way you posted this question I don't see where you had any sort of communication with the employer whatsoever and are just relying on a fax? The only phone call you mention is when you were on your way home from the hospital.

If that was the case and you never discussed being in the hospital on the phone while you were actually first in the hospital, then I believe they had every right to fire you.

I guess my question would be why you, a family member or a friend did not call and notify them that you would not be in and were in the hospital, the fax, was a medical excuse, but I am not sure, depending on the wording if it was a actual report.

AT what point did you notify them of your illness and request time off.

If you are in the US and meet time at work and the size of the company there is a Federal Leave Act that allows you to take time for personal emergancy where they can not file you while you are out.

So you need copies of everything, including the fax from the hospital and all of the medical records.

This is one where if that fax was actually sent three days before you have a good case for a law suit.
If the fax was actuallly sent three days after, you lose a lot of the legal standing for a law suit

Due to the circumstances of my illness, I was very ill until the 5th day of my stay. I called in on the 5th day in the hospital which would be 2 days after I would have returned to work. I got the CEO's Vmail and left a message.

I can't disclose all facts relevant to my reason for being out other than to say I was NOT ABLE TO WORK, PERIOD!

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

I guess my question would be why you, a family member or a friend did not call and notify them that you would not be in and were in the hospital, the fax, was a medical excuse, but I am not sure, depending on the wording if it was a actual report.

AT what point did you notify them of your illness and request time off.

If you are in the US and meet time at work and the size of the company there is a Federal Leave Act that allows you to take time for personal emergancy where they can not file you while you are out.

So you need copies of everything, including the fax from the hospital and all of the medical records.

This is one where if that fax was actually sent three days before you have a good case for a law suit.
If the fax was actuallly sent three days after, you lose alot of the legal standing for a law suit

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100+ employees
My Spouse was also hospitalized

Oh and the fax read,

This is to inform you that (ME) is under the care of Dr. (----) and will remain so for a period of (x days) or until further noticed.

It went on to say where I was and had a phone for any questions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

Due to the circumstances of my illness, I was very ill until the 5th day of my stay. I called in on the 5th day in the hospital which would be 2 days after I would of returned to work. i got the CEO's Vmail and left a message.

I can't disclose all facts relevant to my reason for being out other than to say I was NOT ABLE TO WORK, PERIOD!

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Generally you would call and speak to the personnel department or your immediate boss and not the CEO. That made no sense whatsoever. He probably had no idea just who you are and figured you had already notified the personnel department people.

Unless you were in a coma and unable to speak you still had the obligation to call and speak to someone at that company yourself. The fax would have been a good back up but a phone call from you would have been best.

Also, I am questioning just how the hospital knew just who and what number to fax your excuse to. I'm sorry, I'm not buying this.

Also, hospitals faxing anything usually have their fax number and facility name along with the date and time at the top of the fax sheet. Same thing for doctor's offices.

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

Generally you would call and speak to the personnel department or your immediate boss and not the CEO. That made no sense whatsoever. He probably had no idea just who you are and figured you had already notified the personnel department people.

Unless you were in a coma and unable to speak you still had the obligation to call and speak to someone at that company yourself. The fax would have been a good back up but a phone call from you would have been best.

Also, I am questioning just how the hospital knew just who and what number to fax your excuse to. I'm sorry, I'm not buying this.

Also, hospitals faxing anything usually have their fax number and facility name along with the date and time at the top of the fax sheet. Same thing for doctor's offices.

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Please keep in mind I'm not selling anything.

I was upper mgmt and reported to the CEO!

Medicated heavily upon signing waiver to provide treatment approx 20 minutes after arriving I was administered 5 kinds of medications and HEAVILY SEDATED!

They used a business card from my wallet to fax my excuse from the Dr.

It seems as though opinions vary greatly here; however I do appreciate the input. There are mitigating circumstances that prevent me from full medical disclosure then and now for personal reasons.

The net-net is that I was EXTREMELY ILL, under a Dr's care and was told by the hospital that the fax would protect my job under FMLA as it was direct notification.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

Please keep in mind I'm not selling anything.

I was upper mgmt and reported to the CEO!

Medicated heavily upon signing waiver to provide treatment approx 20 minutes after arriving I was administered 5 kinds of medications and HEAVILY SEDATED!

They used a business card from my wallet to fax my excuse from the Dr.

It seems as though opinions vary greatly here; however I do appreciate the input. There are mitigating circumstances that prevent me from full medical disclosure then and now for personal reasons.

The net-net is that I was EXTREMELY ILL, under a Dr's care and was told by the hospital that the fax would protect my job under FMLA as it was direct notification.

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It is never a good idea to get your legal advice from a hospital; I don't get my medical advice from my Attorney, either.

If you were too heavily sedated to notify anyone or anything, I think you MAY have a wrongful termination lawsut but that will depend on a lot of factors, including your financial loss and the company's policies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

Please keep in mind I'm not selling anything.

I was upper mgmt and reported to the CEO!

Medicated heavily upon signing waiver to provide treatment approx 20 minutes after arriving I was administered 5 kinds of medications and HEAVILY SEDATED!

They used a business card from my wallet to fax my excuse from the Dr.

It seems as though opinions vary greatly here; however I do appreciate the input. There are mitigating circumstances that prevent me from full medical disclosure then and now for personal reasons.

The net-net is that I was EXTREMELY ILL, under a Dr's care and was told by the hospital that the fax would protect my job under FMLA as it was direct notification.

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Am still unclear as to why no one from the hospital CALLED your employer. Just finding a business card in your purse is one thing, but not calling and just faxing I still find very, very strange behavior for a hospital to do.

You also did not state exactly how many days you were actually hospitalized.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

Am still unclear as to why no one from the hospital CALLED your employer. Just finding a business card in your purse is one thing, but not calling and just faxing I still find very, very strange behavior for a hospital to do.

You also did not state exactly how many days you were actually hospitalized.

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I was in the hospital for the exact number of days the excuse stated.

I have sustained total financial devastation, my credit report is getting ruined behind on lights, water, car, insurance basically everything.

The FMLA rep stated I have a good shot at getting my job back since I and my spouse were hospitalized as the law reads leave can be taken for emergency for myself or my spouse.

I don't know, the employer obviously doesn't want me back and in an at will state the term would be short if I was hired back.

You really won't have any answers until you meet with an employment law attorney, with whom you can disclose ALL pertinent information. We can only advise on your information which is half the story, please contact counsel in your area to protect yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

It seems as though opinions vary greatly here; however I do appreciate the input..... The net-net is that I was EXTREMELY ILL, under a Dr's care and was told by the hospital that the fax would protect my job under FMLA as it was direct notification.

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Hello four months:

I don't know if you're going to win your unemployment claim. I don't know why it's taken this long already. Yes, you should win, and if you don't at this level, I'd appeal until I ran out of appeals...

Toward that end YES, there are a lot of opinions here. Nobody knows if you have a good case or not, or even if you HAVE a good case, whether you'll win. So, the only thing to DO at this point, is run it by a lawyer - or SEVERAL.

If the pockets are deep enough, and if your case is good enough, you should find an attorney who will take your case on a contingency basis.

Of course, hiring an attorney doesn't mean that you'll have to wait years for a positive result. If you hire the right one, he'll come down on them like gangbusters. There's a good chance that you'd win a settlement long before you got to trial...

The bottom line is, I'd NEVER let them get away with what they did.

excon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

The FMLA rep stated i have a good shot at getting my job back since I and my spouse were hospitalized as the law reads leave can be taken for emergency for myself or my spouse.

I dunno, the employer obviously doesn't want me back and in an at will state the term would be short if i was hired back.

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I agree with the FMLA rep to a point. I also agree that being forced to take you back is not going to sit comfortably with the company and that it probably will be shortlived.

But I DO think you can win a case for wrongful termination that will pay you all lost wages up to the point of the decision as well as punitive damages to carry you until you can get another job.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vaportrail34

I was in the hospital for the exact number of days the excuse stated.

I have sustained total financial devastation, my credit report is getting ruined behind on lights, water, car, insurance basically everything.

The FMLA rep stated i have a good shot at getting my job back since I and my spouse were hospitalized as the law reads leave can be taken for emergency for myself or my spouse.

I dunno, the employer obviously doesn't want me back and in an at will state the term would be short if i was hired back.

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I continue to have problems with this - both OP AND his spouse were hospitalized, seriously "ill" (to quote OP) at same time - ?

Does anyone know if the illness was, perhaps, the reason for the termination or at least part of the cause?

I see where you are coming from 100% here. It shouldn't matter who contacts your employer to let them know that you are in the hospital. The fact is they were notified. If in a accident and unable to speak or recall you wouldn't be fired because you, personally didn't call. I also wonder what is being left out. It's clear there are things being left out of this story. Generally speaking unless a company is trying to cut back or cut an employee loose, they wouldn't just fire you for not showing up when there is a hospital stay involved. Perhaps the circumstances of your hospitilization are behind the termination. Drug, alcohol, HIV/AIDS.. I understand that you can't disclose certain things and I am left to ask: are you certain that you are not being discriminated against based on your illness? In your position, if you were wrongfully terminiated and you feel that you either A. had given proper notification of Drs. Care and/or B. Feel you were terminated for a medical problem, you should waste no time contacting an employment attorney for a consultation. Best of luck

Both you and your wife... while on vacation became ill? It does reak a bit of wanting to extend a vacation and then coming up with a medical excuse to excuse it... to answer your question though, yes employers are able to choose who they want to fight. There may be a person that they know is battling an illness their hands are tied on keeping them, but they don't want to further burden the person by denying their request for unemployment comp. Then there is the scenario of the screw ball that doesn't want to work, or has a poor track record, violates the policy, is terminated and looks forward to unemployment comp. Sometimes they will deny the request the first time and allow it the second. It really depends... Mainly on those circumstances you are not able to disclose at this time. Seek an attorney.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MsMewiththat

both you and your wife... while on vacation became ill? It does reak a bit of wanting to extend a vacation and then coming up with a medical excuse to excuse it.... to answer your question though, yes employers are able to choose who they want to fight. There may be a person that they know is battling an illness their hands are tied on keeping them, but they don't want to further burden the person by denying their request for unemployment comp. Then there is the scenario of the screw ball that doesn't want to work, or has a poor track record, violates the policy, is terminated and looks forward to unemployment comp. Sometimes they will deny the request the first time and allow it the second. It really depends... Mainly on those circumstances you are not able to disclose at this time. Seek an attorney.

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Well as far as extending the vacation goes, I have over $7k in un-paid hospital bills and a pretty good alibi as in the actual medical records that if I was vacationing it was from the confines of a medical facility; not my idea of a vacation!

I had never been written up, the employer stated I was an asset and had NO INTENTIONS of terminating me in the appeal hearing. I had missed 2 days total in the previous 18 months.

I was at the higher end (non-hourly) of the pay scale with 6 figure potential, so the thought of my wanting to lay out of work for 300.00 a week would be a significant change in my lifestyle i.e. homeless.

Putting the reason for my hospitalization in a forum could compromise my case so I cannot be that specific.