NEED HELP! Friend with MS fired from job!

guys this is a touchy subject. our neighbor down the street is a 29 year old mother who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year. she has her good days and her bad days. she had to take some time off at her job (working an an eye doctor office) to get some treatments and so on and so forth. well, 2 weeks ago her employer cut her hours down because they thought she couldnt hold up her 40 hours because of her getting treatments and being sick.(on top of that she has a 4 year old running around) well, today they just let her go, for no reason at all, she has worked there and had a perfect work record for 8 years and now this. its obvious they did it because of her disease. what kind of legal repurcussions will this have? should she contact a lawyer? its BS if you ask me, especially since she is such a sweet and tenderhearted woman. thanks for any inputs!

 

thats what im thinking too whipper

 

Everything she needs is right here.

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/ada18.html

 

Yea, I would as well.

However, if you're in a 'at-will' state (I believe that's the term...) like Colorado is, you can be fired at any time for any reason and the employer does not need to justify the firing.

Obviously if you can somehow prove in court that you were fired for prejudice of any kind, you will certainly win. Since none of us truly know the full story (she might be a nice lady, but underperformer at work, who knows) I'd say lawyer up and see what happens. If she genuinely feels she was fired illegitimately, she should already be doing this herself...

 

thanks babytruck!

 

good points everyone...any lawyers on this site that want to chime in?

 

some employers just make me sick.

 

bump

 

She needs to look at the info available there and talk to a labor lawyer or EEO specialist. It is entirely possible that the office has tried to make reasonable accommodations for her (less hours, different responsibilities, etc) and she can't meet those.
EE law protects workers from discrimination...But if you can't fulfill the requirements of a job it becomes VERY hard to argue and will become a long drawn out issue.

Best of luck to her.

 

As long as its not based on age sex or race you don't need a reason to fire someone.
It sucks but there is nothing illegal about it

 

It's funny how that stuff works sometimes...When I started in the fire gig, our chief (he doesn't deserve that title) called us at 3 in the morning saying his best man was drinking and flipped his sandrail and killed a girl on a quad. We showed up, and he wanted us to somehow make the sandrail disappear while he hook his wasted best man home...we refused to hide evidence and notified law enforcement. We made a report stating the facts. (everyone wanted him out, so this was just another thing to add to the stack) and guess what, 2 weeks later 8 firefighters got fired. Clear evidence, witnesses..and we go the boot for being honest while he's still busy playing fire chief in his district...fuck him. Employers can get away with alot of things...with that said, i wish her good luck and hopefully her voice will be heard.

 

This is NOT TRUE. There are a number of "protected classes" past Race, Age, and Gender....Religion, Sexual orientation, disability, family status, genetic information...and there are a few others that are "special" cases.
Sorry for the Wiki link but it the most concise summation of the classes HERE. So you can not say "You are disabled so you are fired." There are steps that must be taken to reasonably accommodate the disability and then a process if the disability makes work impossible.

That is a tangible employment action...Did you talk to a labor lawyer about the situation?? Because what happened to you is illegal. You may not want to go back and work there...but he will continue to do the same things to other until someone stands up and does the right thing...

 

That is f'n crazy right there!!!

 

you guys are the best, thanks

 

Well do we really know ALL the facts? Did she tell you everything about/from her job? Their could be more then just what we see for her employer to let her go.

 

true. but after 8 years of a perfect record? makes you wonder though, why they did it right when she got diagnosed with MS, you know?

 

Did her doctor give her a note to present to the employer in regard to limitations? It's really surprising that a business would risk a lawsuit unless it's a small privately owned business that is really unaware of the law. But being in business that long you would think they were aware of it.

 

she said they told her she was bringing down "morale" wtf???

 

Yeah I know what you mean, just that sometimes things look coincidental but yeah you never know, I'll give a prayer for her