Frequent Absences Due to Family Illness: Can We Legally Terminate Her?

We have an employee who has used all of her vacation and sick time for the year already. She continues to take unpaid time off due to her being sick, her husband, and her kids. Can we legally terminate her for being absent all the time? She has been talked to many times, and everything is documented.

Thanks!

Hi Rekha,

Could you clarify if your employee's absence is due to her illness or her family's situation? Is this considered under FMLA? Have you documented this and discussed it with her? What is her response? Is the company experiencing decreased productivity because of this situation, or has she informed you about the duration of her absence? Does she possess a doctor's note?

The course of action to be taken, or not taken, will depend on the answers to these questions. Please keep us informed so we can provide assistance!

Cheers mate!

Yes, I am in Minnesota. Her illness is not covered under FMLA because she hasn't been with the company long enough. We are definitely experiencing a loss of productivity due to her absence. She does provide doctor's notes when she goes to the doctor, which happens at least once a week. Another option we are considering is moving her to another department that is not as reliant on her specific schedule.

Thanks!

Don't move a problem around; you'll still have the problem, and it may infect others in the organization.

Since she is not covered by FMLA, I am assuming that she has less than one (1) year of service. If that's the case, and the company, or you, or whoever hired her, was unaware of her condition at the time she applied/was hired, there is no obstacle that I am aware of that would prohibit you from terminating her.

Her absences have been excessive ("once a week"), and with or without a Doctor's note, she cannot meet her obligations in the workplace to perform to expectations. Such non-performance puts a burden on co-workers (who must pick up the slack), supervisor (who must rearrange the workforce and duties), as well as the company (which may be required to pay unnecessary overtime). That's justification for termination.

You do not mention age, but if she is over 40, she may attempt to file an unlawful termination suit. To prevent that, offer her a severance package (or if you have one, expand it) of two (2) weeks and have her sign a release. (Contact me at my email address, and I can go into it in more detail).