A friend was told by his doctor to take a few weeks off work. Now his boss is firing him for missing so much work. Unfortunately, the doctor has no idea what my friend has.
Also, this triggered a similar question; my mother and I were debating about this - she says that even if a person is practically on their death bed, his boss has the legal right to fire him for missing work, and the employee can’t do anything about it. That can’t be right, though, can it? Is my mom right?
It all depends. If a company has over 50 employees and the employee has worked there for over 12 months, they would be eligible for Family Medical Leave. This is unpaid but provides for job protection for 12 weeks.
If the company is 49 or less employees, there is no requirement for a company to keep the person employed.
It’s unfortunate but absenteeism costs companies a lot of money. If the employee is not there to do their job, the job usually doesn’t get done.
