Legal to term employee arrested not charged with crime but remanded to mental hospital for unknown period?

Belleview, FL Viewed 14 times. Posted 24 days ago in Criminal Defense

He's arrested for making a bomb threat to a public building, and judge has remanded him to a mental institution. This information is per his mother, but public records show he was arrested, but there are no charges yet. Since he will not be reporting to work, plant rules are that 3 days of no call no show, we can term for job abandonment. Forms for FMLA have been collected by his family, but not returned. Advised yesterday that I need to have physician's statement prior to approval of FMLA, if he qualifies, since courts demand him to be institutionalized.

Answers (1)

John Patrick Guidry II

This attorney is licensed in Florida. Posted 24 days ago.

As a general rule, Florida is a work at will state, so long as the employer is not firing someone in a discriminatory manner (race, sex, religion, etc), there's no problem here. I've seen my clients unsuccessfully challenge dismissals just on the basis of a criminal investigation without an arrest (i.e., detectives call employer regarding possible case, employer in turn fires employee, employee sues and loses). That being said, you have posted this question to a bunch of criminal attorneys, but your best bet is to repost this question to the employment lawyers out there!

Good Luck,

John Guidry

Orlando Criminal Defense Attorney