Do I have any legal grounds to get unemployment, sue or even get my job back if FMLA was approved?
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Do I have any legal grounds to get unemployment, sue or even get my job back if FMLA was approved?
I am 8 months pregnant and I have already requested and been approved for my FMLA. I had 4 weeks left of work and they fired me saying that I did not meet deadlines. I was off from work on Wednesday left early on Thursday and was out the following Monday as well for doctor’s appointments. So while I was out my work fell behind and I did not meet their deadline which was that Monday. I was off and it was approved by them. Tuesday after working practically all day and getting my work caught up and done they fired me.
Asked on March 1, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Based on the limited facts that you provided, you do have several potential remedies. The first is to go file for unemployment. If they fired you under such suspect circumstances, they may not contest your unemployment claim. You can also file a claim with the Texas Human Rights Commission or the EEOC for discrimination against you for your medical condition and in retaliation of your FMLA request. You can also seek and attorney to represent you in these matters and file a wrongful termination suit. Even though you have the right to file each of the actions, your challenge will be to show that the "fail to meet deadlines" excuse is pretext or a made up excuse for termination. If you have a little bit more information like other managers overhearing conversations about them looking for an excuse to terminate you because you are pregnant--- then you could get over this defensive theory. Other evidence you may want to present is prior performance evaluations showing that you have historically been a good worker. Developing the evidence to support a claim or rebut a defensive is very fact specific. An attorney who specializes in employment law could help you with fleshing out the details needed to perfect a claim.
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