When You Believe You Will Be Fired Because Of Your Disability / Medical Leave

If you find yourself in a situation where you believe your employer will terminate you because of your disability, the accommodations you need and/or requested, protected medical leave you requested or took or for a similar medically related reason, it might be too early to file any type of claim since the tangible wrongful act itself – termination – hasn’t taken place yet. However, there are a few things you can do to enhance your potential disability discrimination and wrongful termination case:

1. 1. Continue to openly communicate with your employer about your medical needs and limitations. The more clear your employer about your disability needs, the harder it will be for them to use the very common defense of “we didn’t know what he needed” later. If your employer is asking you for additional information to clarify our medical condition or restrictions, give them everything they ask for within reason.
   2. Do not send any nasty or rude e-mails to management or co-workers and remain courteous at all times. You may be tempted to tell your employer what you think of them and of how they treat you in a harsh manner. This, however, will likely make you case much weaker because then the employer can argue that they terminated you for rudeness and insubordination. Then, proving that the true reason for firing is your disability and not communication issues will be a much bigger challenge than otherwise.
   3. Keep a chronological log of all important events, such as your time off taken, requests for accommodations, employer’s responses, etc… This can prove to be useful later, if and when you are in litigation. The timing of events is often critical to proving retaliatory motive and can make a difference between winning and losing in court or in arbitration or at the very least between having a strong case and a weak case.
   4. Consult with an experienced employment attorney to discuss how to handle your specific situation. The right attorney should provide you with useful tips and help you avoid other common mistakes that employees in your situation make.