The simple answer to the question is no and a yes. Have you made a disability benefits claim? If yes, you might get curious to know if your employer can terminate your employment. Several claimants think that making a disability benefits claim can secure from an employment termination.
Here you need to know that it’s not very unlikely for employers to terminate an employee depending on the disability, as a section of the “general restructuring” process. Suppose an organization has any organizational changes where they have decided to use the process of termination. In that case, the same might not be discriminatory and wrong considering an employer had provided the apt severance package as needed by the law. Also, it’s not wrong if the termination decision wasn’t based on the disability. If you think you might face a similar situation, you can find a law firm for disability law.
But there are other scenarios and circumstances where terminating a worker who took a disability leave can be discriminatory or wrong.
The just cause termination
There are times when employers tell employees that they are getting terminated owing to a “just cause.” And for assisting this, the employer might be counting on moments of frequent absenteeism, poor performance, insubordination, and incorrect communication.
In case an employer has placed a “just cause” as the termination reason, it’s crucial to check it accurately, especially when the employee is ailing from any disability. In case it gets determined that it’s a “just cause” for the termination, then an employer is not supposed to provide the severance pay according to the Employment Standard Act. Also, proving termination depending on the “just cause” increases employers’ threshold.
In case the employee’s conduct at work was an impact of a medical issue, the employer will find it challenging to raise a termination based on “just cause.” Addiction and substance abuse can lead to workplace absenteeism, erratic behavior, and poor performance. Addiction is a disability, and the employees who suffer from it need to get the proper support.
The human rights violation
If your employment got terminated due to your disability, then there is a strong probability that it might be counted as a human rights violation. And even the termination decision got based on any prohibited ground, like disability, it will get counted as a breach of human rights legislation. A few scenarios might offer you some guidance whether your termination was because of your disability:
- The employer refused acceptable requests for accommodation and terminated you as you asked for inputs about disability benefits.
- You got terminated soon after you shared that you collected a disability claim or were recovering from any disability.
- Before the disability, the employer treated you differently from others, like denying any time-off request or rebuking you for any challenge you faced while carrying out a job because of medical issues.
If you want to prove that your termination got based on the disability, you need to prove that the employer was aware that you had medical problems. And here you might need to assistance of a disability lawyer.