by Angela
(Decatur, AL)
I have a high-risk pregnancy which means the baby could die. So my doctor took me off work for 2 weeks to try to avoid emergency surgery. During this time I will have no income and could possibly lose my job. Which brings me to my second question…If I get fired even though my doctor took me off work, can i still qualify for benifits?
Hi Angela,
First we need to find out if your employer is required to offer FMLA which would protect your job for this. How many employees does your employer have? http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/
Secondly, unless your employer has short-term disability coverage you won’t receive any money for during this period. This is because in order to collect unemployment you must be able and available for work.
If your employer is not required to extend a Family Medical Leave to you and they fire you, you would be able to collect unemployment once you become able and available again because the discharge would be for a reason beyond your control which is not considered misconduct as long as the employer was informed by you with the medical documentation. If they decided to fire you because of this you should then check to see if their action constituted discrimination. http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/howtofil.html
Chris