Fired w/out Notice for taking sick day!?! Should I sue?
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Anonymous
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Before I begin, I just want to say I am a nanny of 18 years with excellent reference and attendance, with most of my years working with babies and toddlers until they attend kinder. So my typical # of years to work for a family is 3-5years. This year I began working with a new young family, that I thought would be a great fit.
have a 1 year contract with my employer that states I have 5 sick days and 10 day vacation. It asks that I give 2 week notice for doctors' appointments, and 4 weeks for vacation time requests. In addition, it also stipulates 10 conditions under which I could be fired without notice, none of which is for using too many sick days. Anyways last month, I had to call out sick, and go to the emergency room due to excruciating nerve pain in the left side of my body, and had thus used 3 day sick leave. When I returned to work, I showed my employer all the documents and doctor's note, and also let her know 3 weeks ahead of time that I had a follow up appointment with the doctor and will need to take the day off. So last week was the day of the follow up doctor's appointment, and my employer fired me without notice saying that she couldn't afford to pay me and the sick days, because she didn't think I'd use up the sick days. I told er my contract gives me up to 5 days and that this appointment still left me 1 day. I am not one to call in sick for no reason. But nevertheless, she wrote me the check for that week and told me not to come back, and that I could file for unemployment if I needed to. I have been very angry about this this past week, especially after I received her termination letter. She writes in the letter that she and her husband had to let me go because they've decided to put their son in a daycare facility! Would this not constitute as a breach of contract? Should I pursue this further with a lawyer? I feel like I'm at least entitled to some type of severance pay and my accrued vacation time but I'm not sure if it's worth paying a lawyer for. What would you do? Would you just let it go and mover on, or pursue legal action? Thanks for your feedback ahead of time. (By the way, it's the first time I've EVER been fired in my 18 years of service.) Regards, Wronged nanny. |
Anonymous
| Does your contract say they are required to give you severance if they decide to handle childcare differently (daycare)? I dont' think you have a case. |
Anonymous
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No it does not state they give me a severance package, but what is the point of having a contract if employer is not held liable for breaking it?
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Anonymous
| This people from now is Kokomo... |
Anonymous
Boom. You have no grounds to sue. No legitimate attorney would waste their time (or your money) taking this case. If one parent suddenly died and the surviving one couldn't afford you so switched to daycare and had to let you go, you wouldn't be saying "but you didn't give me severance! we have a contract!" They chose to change their style of childcare. |
Anonymous
| If your contract states they need to give you 2 weeks notice she needs to pay for those two weeks. They own you anything else. |
Anonymous
| nothing* |
Anonymous
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It doesn't sound like it was so much the medical issue as much as they got a day care spot and needed someone reliable. If you cannot work, they cannot work. Your medical condition, if a long term issue, that may flair up is an issue as they may not have flexible jobs where they can take off every time you get sick. It may have also been a money issue as day care is probably cheaper.
Sure, you can sue. I know I check court records as they are free/online/open to the public and if I saw you sued your last employer, not a chance I'd hire you. |
Anonymous
| They need to pay out your vacation time unless you signed the termination release, then you're SOL |
Anonymous
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She didn't say they fired you for taking sick days. She said they realized that they couldn't afford to pay you your salary plus sick days. If they can't afford that, they probably can't really afford your vacation, and definitely couldn't afford overtime.
They had decided already that a nanny was too expensive and found a daycare. The sick day thing was her inelegant way of sort of putting it on you (she thought you wouldn't use them), but saying you can apply for unemployment means that they aren't firing you because you did anything wrong. They're letting you go because they changed their minds about nanny care. So, two issues: 1) The personal insult over getting fired: You were let go because nanny care is expensive and they can't afford it. It sucks, but it's not about you. The sick days might not have helped, because it probably made them realize all of the additional costs of having a nanny, but it wasn't because you were sick that they fired you. 2) Are you owed money and can you sue: If your contract states a notice period, they need to pay for that (the clause about "fired without notice" implies that letting you go without cause should have included a notice period). In Maryland, at least, any accrued vacation also must be paid out. You could go to small claims and see what happens. If it doesn't specify in your contract, I would ask for two weeks pay for the notice period, since that's a pretty standard length of notice. |
Anonymous
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OP:
I don't think your (former) Mom Boss is really going to put her child into a daycare & that is why she is letting you go. No way!! It appears to me that she is doing a bait + switch move on you. She listed in the contract that you have access to five sick days, but didn't think you would truly need them. That's like telling your cancer friend you will clean her house for free, then when she asks you, you mutter a "Oh.... I didn't think you would actually ask me to!" WTF??! Yep, same logic here. She knows fully that she is in the wrong here & is protecting herself. She told you the reasoning for your dismissal yet wrote another reason in the letter since it gives her a legit reason to let you go. Just in case you choose to sue her. She is just a common flake. I don't know if this situation would have a chance for success in a court of law. I wouldn't fork over any dough for an attorney however. Your best bet would be a small claims court for sure. If possible, try visiting a free Legal Aid Centre in your city (if you have one) for some advice about if anything can be done legally over this. Your Mom Boss sure made damn sure she covered all her tracks on this. 
Good luck to you and I hope you eventually prevail! You most definitely have been wronged here!! |
Anonymous
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Thank you for your replies. It at least makes me feel better about me as a nanny. I will think about small claims court to at least get the vacation time I've accrued. And I definitely think she has taken advantage of my good will. I don't understand what's so difficult about treating people fairly.
What goes around, eventually cones around. Thanks, From Wronged Nanny |
Anonymous
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If there was no severance time in the contract, you cannot sue for it.
If vacation does not accrue (that is a specific legal term), you cannot sue for that either. And it is employment at will. They can let you go any time for any reason or for no reason at all. Next contract, at least get a notice period for separation without cause (which this is). Generally 2 weeks each way. That way they would have to either give you 2 weeks notice the job was ending or pay 2 weeks in lieu of notice. It's too late for this rodeo. |
Anonymous
| Not to be crass but they likely fired you because of your bad attitude. I know I would have much sooner than they did. |
Anonymous
Just realize if you take a family to court, the next family may not be so inclined to hire you and is that really worth a few hundred? |