Legal Question in Employment Law in Idaho
Fired for being a mom!
My best friend was fired from a company a few months ago...just after returning from vacation. She was scheduled to take 1 week off but while they were out of town, her youngest son almost died due to drowning so she had to take a few additional days off to care for him. She was very upfront with her employer about the circumstances and contacted them right away.
Two days after returning, she was told that she was being fired because she ''has too many kids'' and ''wasn't doing a good job''. First of all, I didn't think that even in an at-will state you can be fired for being a mom. And...she has numerous customer feedback surveys praising her. She also received several awards and bonuses over the course of her employment of 11 1/2 months.
She did receive unemployment because they couldn't prove that she was a bad employee and certainly didn't tell them that she was fired because of being a mom. However, she has not been able to find another job and lost her insurance, not to mention the fact that she had just purchased a new house and is under a great deal of stress just trying to keep afloat.
Does she have a case of wrongful discharge? What, if anything, can she do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Fired for being a mom!
Your friend may very well have a claim for being terminated based upon her sex/gender, sex/gender + (by virtue of being a woman/mom), and/or needing to take leave in connection with a serious medical condition of her child.
I would recommend that she explore finding an attorney in her area by visiting the National Employment Lawyers Wesbite, www.nela.org. Or she could look in her local yellow pages for an attorney specializing in labor & employment law.
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