About a month ago I was terminated due to a medical illness. I had notes from my Doctor stating that I needed to stay home fr...
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In most instances, an employment contract will not state its expiration date. In such a case, the contract may be terminated at any time by either party. Ordinarily a contract of employment may be terminated in the same manner as any other contract. If it is to run for a definite period of time, the employer cannot terminate the contract at an earlier date without justification. If the employment contract does not have a definite duration, it is terminable at will. This is called employment at will. Under the employment at will doctrine, the employer has historically been allowed to terminate the contract at any time for any reason or for no reason. Some State Courts and some State Legislatures have changed this rule by limiting the power of the employer to discharge the employee without cause. For example, Court decisions have carved out exceptions to this doctrine when the discharge violates an established public policy, such as discharging an employee in retaliation for insisting that the employer comply with the State's Food and Drug Act.
Courts may sometimes construe an employer's statements concerning continued employment as a part of the employment contract, and therefore require good cause for the discharge of an at-will employee. Also, written personnel policies used as guide¬lines for the employer's supervisors have been interpreted as restricting the employer's right to discharge at-will employees without just cause. Employee handbooks or personnel manuals have been construed as part of the employee's contract. The Family and Medical Leave Act entitles employees of an employer with 50 or more employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 month period for the following reasons: a) birth or adoption of a child; b) to care for a spouse, child or parent with a serious health problem; or c) a serious health problem of the employee that makes the employee unable to do his or her job.To be eligible for this leave, an employee must be employed by an employer for 12 months or more and have worked at least 1250 hours during the 12 months prior to the leave. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits employment discrimination against any qualified individual with a disability. The ADA only covers employers with 15 or more employees. The ADA is very similar to the Rehabilitation Act. The ADA defines disability very broadly and includes any person with: (1) a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of the individual's major life activities; (2) a record of such an impairment; or (3) an individual who is regarded by the employer as having such an impairment. The test is a two-pronged test. First, you must decide whether or not there is a physical or mental impairment. If so, you must decide whether or not it substantially limits a major life function.The ADA makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against any qualified individual with a disability because of the disability. A qualified individual with a disability is any person who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the job. The ADA applies to virtually every employment practice, from the applica¬tion procedures for hiring to compensation, training, other terms and conditions of employment, and discharge. The statute defines reasonable accommodation to include physical alteration of existing facilities to make them accessible to people with disabilities, restructuring jobs, allowing part-time or modified working schedules, acquiring or modifying equipment, and hiring qualified readers for the blind or interpreters for the deaf.