Legal Question in Medical Leave in California

My girlfriend is 24 weeks pregnant and has worked at her job for 11mo now. She was never written up before she was pregnant but the 2nd month she was pregnant is when we actually found that that we were having a baby :) and she told her work and that month she was not feeling well and had to miss work to go to the Dr.s she had brought a note to excuse the absence but they told her that her note needed to be more detailed so they wrote her up. The next month she was getting lots of pain in her stomache so we called the advice nurse and they told her to go to the ER so again missed work with a Dr.s note and they insisted in writing her up again. The 3rd time was Feb. 11 she was dehydrated and was not well; missed work and spent the day at the hospital with an IV in her arm. She was written up with a 3rd strike and terminated because they are saying her notes need to be detailed but the Drs are saying its illegal for them to ask for this....... Is this legal!? What can we do?


Asked on 2/16/12, 6:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Kirschbaum Law Offices of Michael R. Kirschbaum

I agree with the doctors. Employers are required to attempt to reasonably accommodate employees who have pregnancy related disabilities and all they need to know is that the employee was unable to work because of this. They do not need details. It sounds as though she may have been fired illegally.

She needs to see an employment law attorney in her area for an evaluation of her case and to explore her legal options.

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Answered on 2/17/12, 12:03 pm


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