Hiring question

bhamilton

I have a question regarding a situation where a person was hired. After she was hired she told management that she had to have Mondays off as she had doctors appointments because she has hepatitis C and is being treated. Now the place she is working is a restaurant and she will serve food, not prepare it. Can they fire her because of this?

Rockie

I would consult with legal counsel on this, but you probably would not be able to fire her. Everyone of us would probably shudder if we knew who was preparing our food in restaurants and the diseases that are out there. There are precautions that every food service entity is supposed to follow to ensure that diseases are not transmitted such as gloves, etc. in the prep. area.

If she did not ask for every Monday off as part of letter of hire, you may be unable to accomodate her in this fashion,however. I guess I would wonder why doctors appointments have to be every Monday? And...why all day?

LeeR

Some states require cooks/servers etc to have a food handlers certificate that requires the employee be free of any communicable disease. I don't know if thats the case in your state.

Rockie

>Some states require cooks/servers etc to have a food handlers
>certificate that requires the employee be free of any communicable
>disease. I don't know if thats the case in your state.

Given some of the road side greasy spoons and the looks of the people that work there....I doubt seriously if that applies in South Carolina!

Don D

You might not be able to fire her; but you certainly can refuse that sort of accommodation with a new hire. And if not, you can certainly require supporting documentation. And you can certainly refuse to grant whole Mondays off. Depending on your leave policies and absences policies, you may well not be able to allow a new employee any absences of this nature. Good advice to contact your company attorney to discuss your options and the laws in your state. She is obviously not protected by federal FMLA.