Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in United States
i work for a company in washington state. i recently called in sick for the first time in 6 months to my job and was told i had to go to work regardless of how sick i was. i would of went to the hospital that day but i chose to go to work cus i cant lose my job. do i have a right to call in sick to work. is there a law to protect me or something?
2 Answers from Attorneys
In California, we have a family medical leave act, which allows you to take time off work for medical reasons. Don't know about Washington State.
Your employer can fire you for pretty much any reason or no reason at all, unless you have an employment contract that states otherwise. If you are represented by a union, then your employment contract probably requires the employer to allow you a reasonable number of sick days.
Under the federal Family Medical Leave Act, you cannot be fired for going on a "leave of absence" due to childbirth or other serious family health emergency.
The Family Medical Leave Act of Washington State does not apply to you, because you have not worked at your job for at least 12 months. Even after that, it covers:
a. Leave for birth of a child of the employee and in order to care for the child.
b. Leave for placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.
c. Leave to care for an employee�s family member who has a serious health condition.
d. Leave because the employee has a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the functions of his or her position.
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