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Okay so a person I care greatly about went into the hospital in early February-but it wasn’t for an injury, it was, well, for drug rehab. As you can imagine, it was very difficult for him-giving up anything you enjoy *IS* difficult (even if that something is bad for you-like drugs…or chocolate :yum: ). He was relapsing so often, it was like he didn’t really quit. So last Friday he figured the program wasn’t working and he requested that he be dismissed. That day he gets a call from the HR department where he works. I didn’t hear the conversation, but he told me “Basically, they’re going to look for ways to fire me when I get back because I’ve missed so many days.” This person is young like me (he’s 22) so neither one of us know too much about how “the system works”.
This is where I’m asking for advice-he’s had his doctors fill out FMLA forms, and he’s told his supervisor he was leaving and why.
Yesterday, his mother persuaded him to go back to rehab and basically start over. His insurance isn’t covering it (IDK if that makes a difference in this case or not) but he’s clearly not well yet. I mean, if he had broken his foot, and the bone hadn’t healed yet (which, that takes like 6 weeks or more) I can’t imagine anyone would say “Oh. Too bad. Back to work!” especially since he works a “blue collar” type job.
I think its horrible that he took time off to heal and get better again and his job is saying (from what I understand) “You’ve missed too much. Don’t get comfortable here. Start looking elsewhere for a job.”
Legally, what can he do? I’m taking a Medical Law and Ethics class right now, so I know there are all kinds of patient’s rights and it seems that people with substance abuse problems get more leeway-but Im no expert.
Does anyone here work in HR at their job? I have no idea where to even start looking for any information that might help him keep his job. He hates his job because of the people he works with, but it pays great and its a big company so he gets benefits and 401K etc etc. but it would be better if he could leave on his own time rather than getting FIRED. O.O
Realistically, there is nothing he can do. He is allowed a set period of time with FMLA to recover for illness or such, but if his employer decides to fire him they will find a way. I don’t know the employment laws in your state, but those have some minor effect on how the employer has to behave. If you live in an at-will state they can fire him for any reason, but they need cause to keep him from collecting unemployment. It sounds to me like they’re looking for cause, which (I think) they need to fire him in a non-at-will state. Now if his boss was nice enough to write something down saying they were going to fire him first chance they got, then I would recommend speaking with an employment lawyer, but those cases are hard to prove for the complainants unless you’ve been documenting abuse for a while.
The fact that his boss gave him the heads up is probably the best thing for him because he now he can start looking rather than be blindsided by it. It usually looks better to quit for a better opportunity than to be fired.
Wish I had more cheerful advice to give you.
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Sun Dragon Koi #3If your friend has missed time that is legit, through FMLA, even though it is legit, if the company feels their bottom line isn’t being met, or for whatever reason doesn’t like a person, they will find a way to let you go. Is this right and is this legal? No. Same thing for military who leave for duty, then come back, and then the company wants to let them go or ‘doesn’t have work for them’. However, the onus is on YOU to prove that you were let go for this. HR could always come back and say ‘so and so wasn’t doing their job’, or ‘so and so violated our company drug policy’, etc. etc. It can be a hard thing to prove without some sort of documented proof. It would involve a lawyer being involved though.
Re-hab can be tough. My brother went to rehab several times. It’s also very common for addicts (alcohol, drug) to fall off the wagon, despite rehab. None of it has worked long term, but if he still has people who he talks to or can meet up with to feed his addiction when he feels life is getting him down, that’s a huge hindrance. He has to be careful at meetings too. Many of the meetings he goes to, that’s where he meets up with enablers for him (there are MANY people who just go to the meetings, then go and use right after, so dependign on the meeting, that can actually work against him). Actually, we’re going to see about having him try acupuncture, at least for smoking (he has bad asthma to begin with and a heart murmur, so he needs to quit that at least). Hoping it might have some benefit there as well. He does have a GOOD girlfriend for once, so hopefully that will help him as well.
Good luck!
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