When your health deteriorates, you worry. You worry about your health, your pain, your ability to enjoy life, your ability to remain independent and to function. And if you are an American who isn't wealthy, health worries quickly give rise to financial worries.
Thankfully, if a medical condition limits your ability to work for a relatively short period of time, the law protects your employment status. Nevertheless, wrongful termination cases do occur in situations where employers fail to live up to the law's mandates.
A recent wrongful termination case filed in Florida involves a young man in his thirties who was allegedly terminated due to a serious kidney condition. He has since filed a lawsuit under the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Essentially, the man's kidney function was so poor that he was in need of daily self-dialysis treatments. Determined to remain functioning at his job as a night manager, he planned to conduct self-dialysis treatments during his meal breaks. He had also recently been placed on a kidney transplant list and had informed his bosses of the situation.
Three days after he broke the news, he was told that his position had been eliminated and he would not be considered for placement in a different position, even though he had worked for the company for 10 years and was not facing any disciplinary problems. As a result of losing his job and the subsequent termination of his insurance benefits, his place on the transplant list was taken away.
The man's employers claim that the economy is to blame for his downsizing, but the large company had only laid off four other workers due to financial considerations and every one of those employees was let go on the same day, four months before the man announced his medical news.
The law protects ill workers from wrongful termination. If the man can prove he was fired because of his medical condition, hopefully justice will prevail and he will receive the restitution he is entitled to.
Source: Fox News, "Lawsuit claims man lost his job due to medical condition," Sept. 26, 2012