Employee absence problem
wmartorano
2 Posts
I have an employee who requested one day off for surgery on her miniscus. The surgery was March 15th. Since then she has not come into work. When she did not show up on Mon March 18th, her manager left her a message asking if she would be coming in, she replied she was in a lot of pain and would not be in. We did not hear from her again until Friday, when we had to call her as we had no idea when she was coming back to work, at that time, she texted us a note from her dr saying she was to be out until Tues March 26th when she saw the dr. again
We contacted her end of day yesterday as we had not heard from her as to when she would be returning. We left her a message requesting a return date with a dr note stating she could return of if she was to still be out, a dr note showing length of time out. She replied with an email stating she needed physical therapy, and would keep us posted. Yet she did not tell us when she would be returning to work and did not provide us with dr note per company policy.
Her role is an administrative role in nature, handling customer calls, providing administrative support to managers and it is critical that we replace her if she is going to continue to be out of work.
We have heard thru other employees, but not through her that she plans to sue the company claiming she tore her miniscus at her desk, because she was moved to a new desk, and the new desk caused this injury but she never informed us that she hurt herself at work.
We are a company under 50 employees, she is in clear violation of company policy, is ignoring our requests, can we terminate her or are we opening ourselves up to a lawsuit. She is out of sick time, and has only 1 or 2 vacation days left.
We contacted her end of day yesterday as we had not heard from her as to when she would be returning. We left her a message requesting a return date with a dr note stating she could return of if she was to still be out, a dr note showing length of time out. She replied with an email stating she needed physical therapy, and would keep us posted. Yet she did not tell us when she would be returning to work and did not provide us with dr note per company policy.
Her role is an administrative role in nature, handling customer calls, providing administrative support to managers and it is critical that we replace her if she is going to continue to be out of work.
We have heard thru other employees, but not through her that she plans to sue the company claiming she tore her miniscus at her desk, because she was moved to a new desk, and the new desk caused this injury but she never informed us that she hurt herself at work.
We are a company under 50 employees, she is in clear violation of company policy, is ignoring our requests, can we terminate her or are we opening ourselves up to a lawsuit. She is out of sick time, and has only 1 or 2 vacation days left.
Comments
Do you have employee policies that state how employees are to handle absences and have they been clearly communicated to her?
David is right, but the answers to these questions might impact what should be in your letter.
Your first post! Welcome to the Forum. :welcome:
Sharon
As others have mentioned, your course of action needs to be consistent with what's been communicated to the employee and done in the past. Good luck!
Again, go back to your policies. You need to be consistant so no employees, including this one, claim discrimination or retaliation. You have a right to require this employee to act in accordance with your policies. If you don't have any established, it's time to start. Send a letter as David says, and don't take any actions based on rumor.
Good luck!
Nae
[QUOTE=NaeNae55;725009]I assume you have at least 15 employees, so must do ADA. Do you have enough to be under FMLA? Not enough for FMLA
Do you have employee policies that state how employees are to handle absences and have they been clearly communicated to her? Yes written in employee handbook as well as discussed prior to her surgery
David is right, but the answers to these questions might impact what should be in your letter.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Sharon McKnight SPHR;725013][quote=wmartorano;725005]I have an employee who requested one day off for surgery on her miniscus. The surgery was March 15th. Since then ...
Your first post! Welcome to the Forum. :welcome:
Sharon[/QUOTE]thank you
[QUOTE=Still Need Coffee;725016]As a side note, I had the same surgery in November on a Friday, and was back in the office the following Wednesday....granted, every surgery is different, but a typical arthroscopic meniscus surgery generally requires just a few days off work.
As others have mentioned, your course of action needs to be consistent with what's been communicated to the employee and done in the past. Good luck![/QUOTE] everything was consistent
[QUOTE=dwertz;725022]Although FMLA requires the employer to have 50 employees in a 75 mile radius, there are state laws that can diffier. I think a lot would depend on what state you are in. If you are in a state where the state law is more lenient that the federal, I believe you would have to set her up with FMLA, especially since you know that she had surgery and that she's been under the care of a physician for at least 3 days. If your state runs in line with FMLA, then I would agree that you request a letter stating when she would be able to return to work and a doctor's note verifying when she can return and any restrictions. I don't see this as an ADA issue, because an employer is not required to employee someone with a disability if they are unwilling or unable to perform the functions of the job. In her case, since she's not coming in to work, she is not peforming those functions. As far as suing the company because of the desk, this would fall under Workers' Compensation, so I wouldn't worry about those types of rumors. It's her responsibility to report a work related injury to the company so that a claim can be filed. If she hasn't done so, I wouldn't worry about it unless someone in the office reported the injury to you. Just some thoughts.[/QUOTE]
She ended up resigning after we sent certified letter requesting status update. She resigned friday 3/29 saying she had a new job, found out she started the job 3/25
BTW, thank you for the update. We are often left wondering how things turned out so updates are great.