What to do if I was fired due to a previously undiagnosed medical condition?
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What to do if I was fired due to a previously undiagnosed medical condition?
I have anxiety disorder and possibly bipolar disorder. If this turns out to be true, do I have grounds to sue for wrongful termination or am I to blame for not investigating this sooner? I have been diagnosed and am being treated for depression but it never occurred to me that I might also be suffering from an anxiety disorder until I read the symptoms.
Asked on March 31, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you were terminated before bringing your condition to the employer's attention, there would be nothing wrongful about the termination. The law prevents an employer from discriminating against someone due to a disability. That does not mean that they cannot fire someone with a disability--they can, for any of a number of valid reasons, like performance issues, absenteeism, personality clash with co-workers or suprvisors, restructuring, etc. It simply means a person cannot be fired because they had a disability. But if the employer did not know you had a condition or disability, they could not have discriminated against you due to it--your firing could not have been discrimination against you due to a condition when the employer did not even know you had the condition.
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