Current Events > Can jobs actually fire you if you can't come in to work because of your kids?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Say you have nobody to watch them and you call in because you are the only one who can take care of them but they fire you because theyre angry at you for missing a busy day when they really needed you

If this is legal come on.... management has kids too. Cant they understand?

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The good suffer for the bad in most cases

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If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

Yes

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I would imagine you can catch some leniency on this for many jobs. But if it's a regular thing, then it doesn't make sense to keep paying you.

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Derwood posted...

If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

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Easily. Its not fair but on the companys end, your kids are not their problem.

They only care about making money at the end of the day. Any employees family is irrelevant to them.

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Derwood posted...

If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

AzNDarkSamurai posted...

your kids are not their problem.

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lol

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FMLA says no.

Derwood posted...

If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

...thus, the employer will find some other reason.

Fuck them kids

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Questionmarktarius posted...

FMLA says no.

...thus, the employer will find some other reason.

yeah the reason will be "they didn't show up"

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Questionmarktarius posted...

FMLA says no.

...thus, the employer will find some other reason.

FMLA only covers you if you have to take time off for medical reasons, not because your babysitter bailed or whatever

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People can fire you just because they dont like you lol

regardless of what anyone says otherwise

Questionmarktarius posted...

FMLA says no.

FMLA doesn't cover not being able to find daycare lmao.

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Questionmarktarius posted...

FMLA says no.

...thus, the employer will find some other reason.

FMLA only covers medical reasons and births/adoptions, not "can't find a babysitter."

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Derwood posted...

If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

This.

If you're working for someone that's a completely unreasonable shithead about things, you're better off not working for them anyway. Find a place with people that appreciate your help and don't give you shit about tending to your own life's needs.

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They could but I dont see how that would help them under these circumstances, especially if this isnt a recurring issue. Plus they should have been aware such occasions would arise when hiring parents.

And even then regardless if your employer has this sort a fuse they probabaly weren't worth working for in the first place.

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PoundGarden posted...

FMLA doesn't cover not being able to find daycare lmao.

Ah. Sorry about that.
I though this was about sickly kids as a general concept, not daycare.

Lunar_Savage posted...

This.

If you're working for someone that's a completely unreasonable shithead about things, you're better off not working for them anyway. Find a place with people that appreciate your help and don't give you shit about tending to your own life's needs.

lol sad to say that isnt most jobs. Most employers dont care about their employees like that.

From my experience, theyll only put up with you more if you are hard to replace.

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In the US? Probably. In Canada? It has to be a pretty regular occurrence and even then you still need to be properly reprimanded before they can get to the firing phase.

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FMLA can be used for yourself, your spouse, your kids, or your parents.

You can use it for yourself if: You have a medical condition that effects your job performance. You just had a kid. You're adopting.

To use it "for other people" means you have to be caring for them. Your child, spouse, or parent must have a serious medical problem.

With that said, it can't be used because of daycare/babysitting problems.

Also, it requires time to set up. It isn't like you go to your boss and say "my kid has the flu, I want to use FMLA." You also need to have worked there for 6 months or a year or something, as well I forget which.

It sucks that sometimes we are treated like children at our jobs. Like others have said, your job doesn't care about your kid. They want you there doing what they pay you for. This is also the reason places have sick time and vacation time, for situations like you described. I think though that over the next few years you'll see more and more jobs become "understanding" because frankly it seems workers are getting fed up with bullshit. Plus companies are bending over backwards nowadays to show "they treat their employees well".

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In my state you can get fired for no reason legally

......

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If it doesn't violate the contract they can fire you

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Derwood posted...

If youre in an at will state they can fire you for just about anything

Every state is now at will except Montana

And yes TC, they can
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As managers, we have an attendance guideline that we can follow, or we can be more lenient if we so choose. Personally, I tend to be more lenient, but if I get the feeling that someone is trying to abuse that leniency, I crack down. It takes quite a bit to get me to that point, though. I'm actually had to remind an employee a couple of days ago that he's already well past the point of corrective action, and the next occurrence he has will result in such.

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FMLA needs to be expanded. Can't be for "family values" and be against work policies supporting people taking time to care for the family. The U.S. paid sick leave policy is more third world than first.

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Citrik posted...

As managers, we have an attendance guideline that we can follow, or we can be more lenient if we so choose. Personally, I tend to be more lenient, but if I get the feeling that someone is trying to abuse that leniency, I crack down. It takes quite a bit to get me to that point, though. I'm actually had to remind an employee a couple of days ago that he's already well past the point of corrective action, and the next occurrence he has will result in such.

And good for you. I wish more people did this. But I feel like it's easier just to say no to everyone instead of no to only the ones who will abuse it. Like, this is why our policies suck ass now is because of the lowest common denominator.

brestugo posted...

FMLA needs to be expanded. Can't be for "family values" and be against work policies supporting people taking time to care for the family. The U.S. paid sick leave policy is more third world than first.

What's "family values" that you would need time off? Genuine question, I don't know that I know that term.

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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

What's "family values" that you would need time off? Genuine question, I don't know that I know that term.

Uh, sick kids? Sick parents? (to include in-laws).

Had a hard time getting sick time after FMLA when my father had cancer. There are tons of other examples. How long have you been working?

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you are a worker drone to your company. Unless you perform some highly necessary task only you can do, think of yourself as replaceable. The second you start calling off regularly, they're probably already looking to get rid of you. They don't pay you to take care of your life needs that you got yourself into and show up to work whenever you want. Most companies won't fire you after a single emergency but once its a regular occurrence you might as well start looking for a new job


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brestugo posted...

Uh, sick kids? Sick parents? (to include in-laws).

Had a hard time getting sick time after FMLA when my father had cancer. There are tons of other examples. How long have you been working?

I mean it already can be used on sick kids/spouse/parents but you're right, NOT inlaws.

I just didn't know why you called it family values. That's what I was asking.

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You can be fired for anyrhing... but you also do everything in your power to destroy a business that fired you and ruin the lives of anyone who participated in making the decision to fire you. Sometimes, it can be a good idea to remind them of that before they fire you as a deterrent from doing so...
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WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

I mean it already can be used on sick kids/spouse/parents but you're right, NOT inlaws.

I just didn't know why you called it family values. That's what I was asking.

What do you think the "F" in FMLA stands for?

FMLA is 12 weeks. In a lot of cases, not nearly enough. Less than half of Americans qualify for it anyway. Saudi Arabia and Russia do better than the U.S. 12 weeks FMLA.

Yet Democrats had to fight for that (thanks Bill!)

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brestugo posted...

What do you think the "F" in FMLA stands for?

Family and Medical Leave Act

I just reread your first comment I replied to. I read it wrong. For some reason I thought you were saying FMLA doesn't cover "family values" and I was asking what that meant.

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