This Firing Seems Extremely Unfair.

Post Reply New Topic

There's a man I was acquainted with at work who had more profound problems on the autism spectrum. We work at a data entry desk job, and one of his more annoying stims was to rock violently, all day long. Other than this, and being in his own world, he was a pretty dependable worker. When he was spoken to directly, and given clear instructions on how to enter something, he would do it exactly as requested. That's why I was surprised to hear he had been recently fired. I couldn't understand how someone as completely dedicated to work could have been fired, until I overheard that he had broken his ankle about 6 weeks ago, and apparently didn't fill out the paperwork correctly for the medical leave.

My question is: in a right-to-work state such as Florida, can the employer get away with this? Or is this incident grounds for a disability lawsuit? He probably got confused with the paperwork. I this it’s extremely unfair that he’s out of work in this terrible economy over a paperwork problem. Thoughts?

I have found if they want to keep you, they keep you, if they want to find a way to get rid of you, they do.

my 2 cents

Merle

That does really stink for that poor guy. I certainly hope he can get some help as a disabled person. I hope he has proof the employer knew the nature of his disability; they're supposed to make reasonable accomodations, and helping him redo an incorrectly filled-out form seems reasonable enough. It seems like they just needed an excuse to fire somebody, and he was the unlucky one who was easiest to get rid of.

Right-to-work means if your job s unionized you can have the benefits of union representation without actually joining the union and paying any dues. Unfortunately this guy doesn't have a case.

quite the opposite. Right to work was conceived as the opposition to unionization.

Right to work states that you can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all.
The flip side, of course, is you can quit for any reason at all; non-compete clauses don't go very far in these states.

I live in NC, which is not only a right-to-work state, but the most anti-union in the US, with fewer union members than any other. It's home to some of the professional 'union busting' companies that specialize in keeping unions out of corporations. As they say down here

"you can't spell 'communism' without u-n-i-o-n"

shows you what it's like here

yeah, they can fire him. As long as they properly document the firing process (warnings, infractions of company policies, etC), they can fire anyone they choose.

Mainly, nowadays they're firing people left and right, just to save money.

It sounds to me like they were waiting for an excuse to fire him. It sounds very unfair.

NTs will fire Aspies or Auties for things which would not get an NT fired.Cover your back and note any differences in your employers treatment of your co-workers and yourself.Its supposed to be one rule for all.

He could just as easily have been fired even if he DID fill out the paperwork correctly. Companies don't like to pay employees for the time they spend elsewhere.

He should definitely talk to a labor attorney and/or file a grievance with the labor board.

It depends. If he couldn't fill out the paperwork because of his disability and the company knew that, didn't make accommodations, he could get them for failing to comply with the ADA. Which would than be a wrongful dismissal suit against them.

If not, sue the boss if he can!

There has to be more to this story than just forms that were incorrectly filled out. Had he been disciplined before this incident?