Injured at work and fired

William called with a painful situation: he fell at work and hurt his back, and his employer fired him once the doctor said he would need surgery. William had no money coming in and now he couldn’t work at all. He wanted answers right away.

If you are injured at work and terminated from your job, you probably want to know whether your employer did something wrong. You probably need to consult a lawyer to help figure out your rights. Because there is no one-size-fits-all answer, you will be asked a lot of questions, such as:

• Was your workers’ compensation claim accepted or denied?
• Were you out of work at the time you were terminated?
• Were you able to do your job?
• Did you have a union contract at your place of employment?
• Were other people fired at the same time?
• Were you accused of doing something wrong?
• Do you believe that you were fired because of your workers’ comp case?

Your former employer may not have violated any of your rights when you were fired. You may – or may not – be entitled to workers’ compensation payments for your time out of work. You could have a retaliation claim because you were treated wrongfully, or you could have the ability to file for unemployment benefits.

To find out your rights, call a lawyer who knows both workers’ compensation and employment law. The lawyers at Johnson & Groninger can help.

Photo credit: SpaceShoe [Learning to live with the crisis] / Foter / CC BY