North Carolina Employment Legal Questions

If you have a provable injury, then you may have a workers compensation claim.  You would need to speak to a workers compensation attorney about such a claim.  Those are injury claims and not within traditional employment law coverage.  If this is an unsafe condition, then you may be able to get the matter addressed by OSHA and would need to contact that agency.  You can do so via the agency's website. Otherwise, there are simply no employment laws that cover this situation.... Read More

There is no way to address what the employer told the DES except by following through with the DES process and proving at a hearing that the employer is lying.  If you do prove the employer is lying, the only thing you will be entitled to is your unemployment. If the employer had more than 50 employees, then you may have rights under the FMLA to be allowed time off for treatment or recovery of upto 12 weeks.  If the employer has less than 50, or you do not meet the eligiblity requirements, then he can legally fire you because you were not able to work.... Read More

Probably little that you can do.  He is required to pay you for all days that you worked.  He does have a right to change the paydate with notice. He does have a right to switch you to direct deposit.  If he does not pay you ever, for those days, then it is a clear violation and you can bring an action for getting paid for that day. However, if he simply pays you at the next paydate, then there is little reason to file a legal action as you will ultimately paid for those days.... Read More

Harassment is unlawful in North Carolina only if it is directed to you on the basis of an unlawful factor such as race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age, 40 or older. So, it the hostile environment is due to one of these factors it is unlawful and you have a claim.  If not, and it is just hostile, there is no legal claim.  Your manager's health condition and whether he should be at work or not will not be relevant to any claim you have.... Read More

In general, employers are not required to keep any information about your employment confidential. Moreover, there is no law that prohibits an employer from disclosing the reason you were terminated or disciplined.  If the employer defamed you to third parties, then that might be a claim. ... Read More

It is possible that you have a claim under the Americans With Disabilities Act if your health condition qualifies as a disability and if there was a way for the company to have accomodated that disabilty.  Those are big "ifs" and I recommend that you consult directly with an experienced employment attorney who can work through the facts and law with you. ... Read More

Unfortunately, there is no legally required maternity leave in North Carolina.  Also, unfortunately, you were not entitled to FMLA as you had not worked for the employer for 12 months as requried to be covered. There is a Pregnancy Discrimination Act that covers employer with 15 or more employees.  However, that law does not require the employer to provide any benefits to the pregnant employee.  It simply makes it unlawful for the employer to treat pregnant employees worse than non-pregnant employees.... Read More

If you actually work in North Carolina, and do not just reside here, then you will be able to take advantage of North Carolina's Wage and Hour Act. If the bonus is a several thousand or more, then contact an NC employment attorney.  However, if it is not, then just contact the NC Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Bureau to file a wage complaint. ... Read More

Yes, you can be fired for that or any other reason in North Carolina as this is an employment-at-will state. However, if your employer has 15 or more employees, then you will almost certainly have a claim for wrongful firing. Contact an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible to discuss your sitaution.  Keep in mind that attorneys cannot solicit you; you have to contact them directly. ... Read More

In general, you can be fired for any reason at all in North Carolina. There is no law that says an employer is prohibited from firing you due to an illness.  The FMLA provides covered employees who work for covered employers with up to 12 weeks of leave for a serious health condition.  Not all employers and not all employees are covered by FMLA.  The serious health condition can be the employee's own or of an immediate family member. If an employee on FMLA is able to return to work in 12 weeks or less, then the employer must return the employee to the same or equivalent position.  Employees are also allow to take FMLA on a intermittent basis (here and there as needed).FMLA makes it unlawful for a covered employer to interfere with an employee's FMLA rights or leave or retaliate against an employee for exercising FMLA rights. That means that your employer would violate the FMLA only if it terminates you due to absences that are FMLA covered or in retaliation for using FMLA. If you are terminated due to an illness, it is possible that you have certain rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) if your illness meets the definition of a disability under the ADA. The ADA prohibits discrimination against employees or applicants for employment due to a disability.  The ADA also requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee or applicant with a disability that will allow the person to perform the essential functions of the job.   Due to the complexities of the law, the protection the law provides to employers, and the fact intensive nature of the inquiry, the only way to determine if you have a possible claim under either law is through a consultation with an experienced employment attorney.... Read More

Your employer is not required to follow your doctor's medical orders except under two circumstances. First, if you have a serious health condition and are eligible for coverage by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA provides covered employees who work for covered employers with up to 12 weeks of leave for a serious health condition.  Not all employers and not all employees are covered by FMLA.  The serious health condition can be the employee's own or of an immediate family member. If an employee on FMLA is able to return to work in 12 weeks or less, then the employer must return the employee to the same or equivalent position.  Employees are also allow to take FMLA on a intermittent basis (here and there as needed).FMLA makes it unlawful for a covered employer to interfere with an employee's FMLA rights or leave or retaliate against an employee for exercising FMLA rights.  Second, if you have a disability, your employer may have to accommodate that disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination against employees or applicants for employment due to a disability.  The ADA also requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee or applicant with a disability that will allow the person to perform the essential functions of the job.    Employers are allowed to change the nature of any job at any time as your employer did. However, if you are covered by the ADA, your employer will have to provide you with a reasonable accommodation if there is a reasonable accommodation available.  In general, simply excusing you from completing a large portion of your job duties (4 hours of work per day) will not be reasonable.  Even so, there may be other accommodations the employer can make. Speak to an experienced employment attorney for more specific quidance.  ... Read More

   Harassment is unlawful in North Carolina only if it is directed to you on the basis of an unlawful factor such as race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age, 40 or older.  Harassing someone because he is overweight is unfair, but not unlawful.   Further,  NC an employment-at-will state which means you can be fired for any reason and there is no liability for the employer unless there is an unlawful motive for the action taken against you. There are generally only two forms of unlawful motives: unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Discrimination in employment is unlawful if it is due to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age 40 or older. Again, firing you because you are overweight is unfair, but not unlawful.  However, it does give me pause that she mentioned your arm braces.  The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against employees or applicants for employment due to a disability.  The ADA also requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to an employee or applicant with a disability that will allow the person to perform the essential functions of the job.  While it is a stretch, if she thought you had a disability, or you actually have a disability, and she fired you because of the disability or her belief that you had a disability, then that could be unlawful.   ... Read More

North Carolina is an employment-at-will state which means you can be fired (or anything short of firing) for any reason and there is no liability for the employer unless there is an unlawful motive for the action taken against you. There are generally only two forms of unlawful motives: unlawful discrimination or unlawful retaliation. Discrimination in employment is unlawful if it is due to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability or age 40 or older. Retaliation in employment is unlawful if you engaged in one of a handful of "legally protected" activities and were fired for engaging in that activity.   If either of these was the motive for what happened to you, then you may have a legal claim. However, fact that these things were done to you with "no good reason" shows that it was an unfair situation. It does not show that what happened was unlawful. Additionally, there is no legal claim for hostile enviornment (a form of unlawful harassment) unless it is directed to you on the basis of unlawful discrimination as described above.   ... Read More

I do not see any question in this post.  I also do not see anything that appears to be unlawful in these facts although this situation seems unfair.  If you are seeking guidance on what you should do moving forward, I recommend that you set a consultation with an experienced employment attorney specifically one who handles claims by state government employees. ... Read More