Florida Man Fired for High Medicals Costs for Daughter's Cancer Treatments

October 20, 2012

A Florida man has sued his employer for wrongful termination, claiming that he was fired, not for falsifying time sheet records, as the company claims, but because of his daughter's high medical costs. The case shows employees that it is possible to hold employers responsible for wrongful termination.

Man Asserts He Was Fired Due to Daughter's High Medical Expenses

The Palm Beach County man was fired at his job at a bank on the pretext that he falsified his timesheet. However, the man believes the real reason he was let go was the high cost of his late daughter's cancer treatments. He is suing for damages of $15,000, the lowest amount needed for the lawsuit to be taken up by the circuit court in Florida.

Before the man was fired, his daughter's treatments required him to work at multiple locations and often work less than full-time. However, he was allowed to work remotely and his compassionate coworkers would fill in the time he missed. However, the bank's corporate office was less accommodating and began calling the man and his wife to inquire about his daughter's treatments, long-term care and associated costs.

Three days before the man's daughter was scheduled for surgery, he was fired for purportedly faking information on his timesheet. Company policy requires a supervisor's approval of workers' timesheets, compliance with which was difficult since the man worked remotely and at several different locations. He asserts that the timesheet in question was approved by his supervisor and he was given no opportunity to explain his side of the story before being fired.

After he was terminated, the hospital canceled his daughter's treatment due to lack of health insurance. Fortunately, the community rallied behind him and a charity funded the surgery. In his lawsuit, the man also asserts that his employer failed to provide him information on how to extend his life insurance and health insurance coverage after his termination, as required by law. Doing so would have allowed the surgery to go ahead without billing complications.

How Employees Can Fight a Wrongful Termination

Generally, employers cannot make hiring, firing, promotion, pay, benefits and other decisions based on an employee's race, gender, age, disability, religion, national origin or genetic information. Doing so constitutes employment discrimination. Included in these prohibitions are employment decisions based on an employee's association with a person with a disabling condition. This would include the Florida man's terminally-ill daughter. The man asserts that his employer's pretext for firing him covered up the real reason it wanted to terminate his employment -- his daughter's rising medical costs, a claim the company denies.

If an employee suspects he or she was fired due to disability, race, gender, religion, age, national origin or genetic information, he or she should enlist the help of an experienced employment law attorney. A lawyer can help employees understand their rights under federal and state law and recover appropriate damages.

Article provided by Feldman Morgado, P.A.
Visit us at www.floridatrialattorneys.net/