They canned me........

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I am a public servant in NC, a "right to hire, right to fire" state. You would not believe how common it is for women to get fired after they tell their employer they will need to be out for surgery, or get terminated soon after they return to work. Of course the employer ALWAYS claims it is due to work performance, or some other (often fabricated) reason. Many try to fight the employee's unemployment claim. It is easy to tell someone to hire an attorney and fight the employer. Unfortunately, most of the women I deal with simply don't have the funds to do so. "Legal Aid" is all but non-existant. The whole situation is shocking to me, having moved here from another state in which terminating a person's job had to follow a process, and employers overall respected employee's rights (or feared litigation).
The very week I found out I would have to have my hysterectomy, a woman came in to file for unemployment. She told me LESS THAN 24 HOURS after informing her employer she would need time off for a hysterectomy, her employer called her at home and said they would no longer be needing her services, and said "of course this has nothing to do with your hysterectomy". This woman was obviously still in pain when she came in, but said as she lost her health insurance and had no income she was looking for work immediately, and hoped that she would be able to work as soon as she could find another job. (one must be able and available and looking for work to file an unemployment claim) I sure hope her claim went through. And for the life of me, I cannot understand how some of these employers can hold their heads up, or how they can sleep at night. Sorry for ranting, sisters. This one really hits a nerve.

LoriY, If you have been on a job for 1 year you qualify for a medical leave or a family medical leave. You have to fill out the forms and have your Dr. fill out a section. This protects you job for a certain period of time, I think 6 months. If you fill out the forms and turn them in to employer they cannot fire you or replace you. They, by law, have to hold your job open for that amount of time. This medical leave law is a federal law applies to everyone working in US

Actually, FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees. Advice is free of charge on this matter. US citizens can call the US Department of Labor for more information, toll free. They would be happy to help you in the matter of the rights that apply to your situation.

Good luck!

LoriY,
I I forgot to say this inmy post about medical leave. Do not expect your employer to tell you about this law. You have to go to your Human resource dept. and ask for the papers. I know this probably does not help you now but it could in the future

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i happen to have been working for a small family business with no more than 30 employees and happen to be in the dear old south where they do not have to give you an explanation for letting you go but i did get my unemployment benefits no insurance though, it just happen to be one of those bosses where u cannot even be out with the sniffles or a sick child. i did check with the sc unemployment agency and they said an employer can replace u if u are out for a length of time which was 6wks for me.

thanks for the advice lots of love

I felt pretty much all alone in this jungle of looking for work. I went looking today for a supposedly nonexisent place. I went by the ad in the paper,and looked up the address on the internet. It was supposed to be a temporary agency, but even with my dh helping me to look high and low on that street , we could not find the place for me to apply... I am going to do more research; and as a matter of actual fact, I had found a listing in the "yellow pages" for a company with the same name , different address... who knows... so frustrating... I sympathasize with you on the loss of your job and add my support and best wishes for another. Reeni