Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: being fired

No one can make you come back to work against medical advice.

Whether the employer can terminate your employment depends on many things. How long have you worked there? How many employees does your employer have? How long have you been away from work for medical reasons? If your employer has 50 or more employees during 20 or more weeks of the calendar year, they are covered by the Family Medical Leave Act and must give you up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave IF you have worked there for 12 months or more.

If your case does not fall within the guidelines above, your employer probably can terminate your employment for not coming back to work.

However, if you are terminated for not coming to work because of illness or disability, you will qualify for unemployment IF you keep your employer informed of your illness and your expected date of return, you pursue all reasonable alternatives to try to preserve your job (talk to your employer and see if leave is available) and promptly request to be reemployed once your doctor clears you to go back to work. If you do all these things and do not get your job back, you should be able to collect unemployment. Good luck and I hope things work out.

Re: being fired

I agree with Ms. Beecher's answer but want to add one thing.

Depending on all the facts, if the employer has 8 or more employees then treating you differently, or terminating you, because of a temporary disability may violate the WA State Law Against Discrimination. You can contact the WA State Human Rights Commission for free to discuss this with them.

Merry Kogut