That's not a plaintiff's lawyer talking. That's Dr. Robby, the chief of emergency medicine on The Pitt, grabbing a patient's phone and putting her boss on notice while she's being treated for what looks like SIRS—a systemic inflammatory response that's threatening her leg and possibly her life.
Debbie Cohen is in the ER. Her rash is spreading. Three senior physicians are at her bedside. And her biggest fear is missing work.
Her boss keeps calling, accusing her of exaggerating, dangling termination if she doesn't show up. At one point she pleads, "Please! Please don't fire me!"
Let's talk about the law.
We don't know whether her employer is large enough to be covered by the FMLA or whether she's worked long enough to be eligible. The episode doesn't give us headcount or tenure. But if the company meets the 50-employee threshold and Debbie satisfies the 1,250 hours/one year eligibility requirements, this is easy. Once the employer has notice she's in the ER with a serious health condition, firing her for missing work is classic FMLA interference and retaliation.
You don't get to terminate someone for being hospitalized after you've been told she's hospitalized.
And even if the FMLA doesn't apply, the ADA almost certainly does. A condition serious enough to land someone in the ER with a systemic inflammatory response almost certainly qualifies as a disability. The ADA requires reasonable accommodation. Time off for emergency treatment is about as reasonable as it gets. The appropriate response isn't skepticism and threats. It's flexibility and dialogue.
But here's the bigger issue. If your employee, sitting in an ER fearing for her life, is more worried about getting fired than getting better, your culture is badly broken. No one should need a doctor to threaten to testify in a lawsuit for a manager to show basic decency.
Employers, make sure you understand your FMLA obligations, respect the ADA's accommodation requirements, and build a workplace where medical emergencies trigger support—not suspicion and threats of termination.
Debbie Cohen is in the ER. Her rash is spreading. Three senior physicians are at her bedside. And her biggest fear is missing work.
Her boss keeps calling, accusing her of exaggerating, dangling termination if she doesn't show up. At one point she pleads, "Please! Please don't fire me!"
Let's talk about the law.
We don't know whether her employer is large enough to be covered by the FMLA or whether she's worked long enough to be eligible. The episode doesn't give us headcount or tenure. But if the company meets the 50-employee threshold and Debbie satisfies the 1,250 hours/one year eligibility requirements, this is easy. Once the employer has notice she's in the ER with a serious health condition, firing her for missing work is classic FMLA interference and retaliation.
You don't get to terminate someone for being hospitalized after you've been told she's hospitalized.
And even if the FMLA doesn't apply, the ADA almost certainly does. A condition serious enough to land someone in the ER with a systemic inflammatory response almost certainly qualifies as a disability. The ADA requires reasonable accommodation. Time off for emergency treatment is about as reasonable as it gets. The appropriate response isn't skepticism and threats. It's flexibility and dialogue.
But here's the bigger issue. If your employee, sitting in an ER fearing for her life, is more worried about getting fired than getting better, your culture is badly broken. No one should need a doctor to threaten to testify in a lawsuit for a manager to show basic decency.
Employers, make sure you understand your FMLA obligations, respect the ADA's accommodation requirements, and build a workplace where medical emergencies trigger support—not suspicion and threats of termination.