Home > Research Legal Advice > Workers Compensation > Can a person who suffered a mental break down and was hospitalized for ...
Asked 9 months ago - Perth Amboy, NJ
Flagi work for a company for over 9 years , in 2011 i suffered my first bout with mental depression due to the over overwhelming amount of duties imposed on me ,after my hospitalization my employer was informed by the doctors about my limitations on mental stress and advise them to keep me in a less stressful position which they did for awhile but as time goes on reverted back to the same position or worse ,finally i lost my sanity in june 2012 and ended up getting terminated behind my illness with no formal notice or reasons
Were you eligible for Family and Medical Leave? You had to work 1250 hours in the previous year, and your Employer must employ 50 or more employees within 75 miles to be eligible. If you were eligible, and meet other requirements, you cannot be fired for emergency leave. You may also under the Americans with Disabilities act have been entitled to short term temporary leave.
The below response is intended for general information only. It is not intended to be legal advice regarding your specific situation.
More facts are needed in order to better evaluate your situation such as: the size of your employer, circumstances of employment, notice given too the employer, your medical condition; is this a worker's compensation injury; and your position.
Be advised that New Jersey is an at-will employment state. Meaning, that your employer may terminate you for any reason or no reason at all. However, your employer may not terminate or discipline you based on a discriminatory reason such as your being disabled or needed a reasonable accommodation.
I would be interested in discussing the above with you in order to determine if you have a cause of action against your employer.
Arykah Asheley, Esquire
Direct: 856.298.1760
Office: 856.874.9090
I think you already were. The Family Medical Leave Act does provide you with up to 12 weeks of job protection if you request unpaid medical leave, but I am pretty sure that you need to let your Employer know that you were not in Jail or abandoned your job. Now, I don't know if you were unable to call them and say that you were in the hospital, but they do not really have to keep your job open if you just disappear. You should also check your Job Description to see if Sanity is listed an Essential Job Function, because that will play into any Discrimination claim.
I am assuming that you already had a WC Claim pending, which may or may not have put the Employer on notice of the recent problem. The smarter plan would have been for a Family Member or Friend to provide Employer with a Doctor note while you were incapacitated.
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