Saturday, July 9, 2011

Can My employer harass me for calling in sick?

Ive worked for this Corporation for 9 years now. We work 10-12 hours a day mandatory overtime. I told my manager that i wasn't feeling well on Wed. and told him i was taking NyQuil all day and slept right when i got home the night before. Thurs. was my day off and thought id be able to pull myself together to get to work Fri. however i felt worse so i called my manger and told him i was calling in. He explained to me that we had an agreement that since im in management that i don't call in sick. This agreement was never talked about and i would have not agreed to such terms. He told me if im really sick to come in and work in the office and answers phones and if he thinks im really sick hell send me home. I told him if i felt like i could show up to work i wouldn't be calling in. then he asked me if i was refusing to come in. i Explained to him for the second time i was sick and not coming in, he then said ok see you tomorrow. This is not the first time something like this happened. About a year ago my wife gave birth and i filed for FMLA. I reserved 1 week to be home with my new family and towards the end of the week my wife got an infection and since i had 12 weeks paid leave i called to extended my time off for another week well in advance for them to adjust the staff accordingly. I was told by my manger ( not my current manager) that i wouldn't be able to extend to help my wife who was on bed rest that i had to be back to work at my Original set date. I was upset and called my HR department and explained what happened they said they would look into it and keep me updated. 10 minutes later i got a call from my Assistant vice president asking me what was the problem. I explained i needed time off and to take care of my wife. he asked me why and made me explain her current condition. In the end i got my time off but i feel like it was unnecessary for me to explain my wife's medical condition. I have since called in only 3 times over the 9 years ive been with this Corporation and every time ive got the third degree about how im a manager and managers don't call in sick. (not including my 2 weeks for the birth of my daughter) I still have 10 weeks left of paid leave that i feel i cant because they will hold it against me. Ive worked with several managers who all tell me that im more then qualified for a promotion but every time i go up for a promotion over 10 times i never get it. Ive worked with people who get the promotion and in the end i end up doing their work. In the end i feel like they are holding it against me the few times that i have called in sick and want to do something about it. Do i have enough information to explore legal matters? Ive documented every incident with what was said and who it was with. Id like to do more then a class action law suit. what are my options if i even have any? Thanks for your time.

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