Legal Question in Employment Law in Michigan
Wrongful Discharge?
I had a previously approved day off from work, which I used to purchase a new vehicle. There were problems involved in said purchase and it was believed the transaction would not be complete until the following morning. I called my work to advise them of my situation and that I would not be in the next morning. The next morning, I received a voice mail message from my employer stating "I am discharging you because you are not committed to your work. I need someone to be here when I am in Trial and such. Come get all your things today."
I receive 2 weeks vacation and 1 week personal/sick days per year. I believe only 8 days were used, and I therefore was entitled to additional time off. I have been with this employer for approx. 7 years. I was only scheduled to work 1/2 day Tuesday anyway. His "Trial" was a divorce Trial, which he was well prepared for. He had my home and cellular phone numbers and could have easily contacted me the night before to notify me that he needed me to come in to work. If asked, I would have made arrangements to come in later in the afternoon.
Please advise if this is in fact a wrongful discharge and if so, what steps can I take? Thank you for your time and consideration.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Wrongful Discharge?
It certainly sounds like it was unfair! The question of whether it was also illegal is a little bit more complicated.
Do you have any kind of employment contract or policy manual that entitles you to certain porocedures before you can be fired or that requires that you can only be fired for good cause? If not, then you can be fired for any reason except discriminiation on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age or disability; retaliation for complaining about one of these kinds of discrimination; or if the firing violated some clear policy of the state (for example, if you were fired because you filed a workers compensation claim, served on jury duty, etc.)
If none of these things apply, chances are your firing was legal. For more information, please see my website at http://www.maslaw.com
If you think you were fired illegally, you should discuss this in detail with a lwyer experienced in this area of the law.
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