We periodically receive a very similar call or e-ail from the Sacramento Kaiser former employees (mostly nurses, and LVN’s). They get injured, file a workers comp claim or go on medical leave / disability leave and then shortly after returning they are fired for some petty or even untrue reason based on “violation of principles and responsibilities.” The union is absolutely useless and won’t help after that employee paid union dues for years (often for 1o, 15 or even more years).
These types of termination cases are inherently tricky. Proving that the true reason for terminating was unlawful, i.e. an employee’s disability or taking time off or filing a workers comp claim, rather the reason stated in the termination papers, requires carefully looking at all the available evidence, including the following: (1) whether the alleged violation that lead to the termination took place or the whole story is fabricated; (2) whether other employees were treated more leniently or not disciplined at all for the same violation; (3) whether the manager in questions made any statements that would suggest that he was unhappy about the employee’s taking time off or filing a workers comp claim; and (4) and the timing of relevant events relative to the termination date. And of course, if there is information about other employee who were terminated by the same supervisor or department for questionable reasons shortly after being injured or going on disability leave, this will further help you prove your own wrongful termination case.
In one recent case, we sensed that there was more to the story as soon as we found out that our client was terminated after returning from disability leave for an incident that took a while before she went on her 4 month leave. This made no sense to us and encouraged us to dig further for other evidence that would soon make it clear the stated reason for her firing to be nothing other than a bunch of orchestrated lies. And when the employer knows that they got caught in lies and cover-up, it really helps them encourage to engage in meaningful settlement discussions.