Legal Question in Employment Law in New Jersey
I live in New Jersey and was working for a auto group corporation for about 9 months; during those 9 months I wasted all my sick, and vacation days due to my medical conditions, which are Crohns Disease, high blood pressure, kidney stones and kidney failure. While I was working there my controlled substance medication, which I use for my chronic pain was stolen twice; the first time someone stole a couple of pills from my drawer at work and the second time someone broke into my vehicle and stole the whole bottle of pain medication. I spoke with my General manager immediately and she did a little investigation and stated that the camera caught someone breaking into my car but that it was so late at night that the darkness did not allow them to recognize who it was. Shortly after, she told me to be more careful with my medication and to carry it with me, rather than leaving it at my desk. One of the finance managers at the dealership knew that I was suffering a lot because of my pain and he knew that I was not going to be able to acquire more medication until the upcoming month, which was weeks away so out of his kindness he offered a couple of his own pain pills so that I could have something until the refill came in; About 6 months later, the same thing happened again but this time it happened to the finance manager, who had given me a couple of pills a couple of months prior to the whole situation. The finance manager immediately contacted Human Resources and a representative from the corporations Human Resources Department came into the dealership took everybody's statements including mines. My statement stated that the manager attempted to sell me his pain medication in two different occasions, and both times I refused to get involved in any illicit transactions and also stated that a couple of days after my refusal the manager decided to give me a couple of pills for free so that I wouldn't be in pain while I waited a week or two for my refill. The human resources representative made me write a statement in which I stated exactly what I just stated on this paragraph and she made me sign it. She also told me not to worry about anything that the statement was going to be used to protect herself, the corporation and myself as an employee, but she lied because a couple of weeks later; I was in the hospital with a Crohns disease flare up and I received a phone call, in which my general manager and the human resources representative basically terminated my employment and stated that I was basically being terminated for receiving a control substance from a manager, but also stated that I was being terminated for my lack of confidence; I am just so confused about the whole situation. My pain medicine was stolen twice on the corporations property and my finance manager, who by coincidence uses the same exact medication both in strength and name gave me a couple just so that I could continue to work without an inch of pain. Is this legal? Can they fire me for receiving the same exact medication that I get prescribed even when they knew that they only reason I accepted them was because mines were stolen and I needed some sort of relieve? I have two daughters to support and a fiance. I am only 22 years old and do not have the best medical record so I basically cannot perform numerous jobs because of these conditions and now that I finally found a job that I can handle and do very good at they basically decide to terminate my employment for the above reasons. Can you please give me some advice? I want to know if I can still get my unemployment benefits and I would like to know if I have a case? And if I do have a case, what kind of case would that be considered? Thank You
1 Answer from Attorneys
A very long question with a short answer: see an employment law attorney and ask about a possible ADA case and file a complaint with the EEOC.