Can an employer wrongfully fire you and not respond to your appeal?

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Can an employer wrongfully fire you and not respond to your appeal?

I had a stomach virus and missed a day of work not knowing I was out of paid time off. When I returned to work the following day my manager advised that he would have to write me up. I asked him if it was OK if i just made up the day by flexing my work week. He told me that it was not an option. I called HR and asked what my option were and was advised that I could flex my work week and make it up or the manager could provide me a personal day off due to illness. I asked my manager about those options and he stated again that it wasn’t an option. A week later, I was fired because of missing that day. I filed an appeal to HR and they escalated it to employee relations and I have called for weeks and no one has contacted me.

Asked on October 30, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Texas

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

Unfortunately, unless your treatment violated the terms of an employment contract/union agreement or constitutes some form of legally actionable discrimination, then you have no rights here. The fact is that most employment is "at will". This means that a company can set the conditions of work much as it sees fit. Accordingly, you could have been fired for an unexcused absence, or for any reason, or for no reason at all.

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

Unfortunately, unless your treatment violated the terms of an employment contract/union agreement or constitutes some form of legally actionable discrimination, then you have no rights here. The fact is that most employment is "at will". This means that a company can set the conditions of work much as it sees fit. Accordingly, you could have been fired for an unexcused absence, or for any reason, or for no reason at all. 


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