Union Pacific sued after firing rail worker on medical leave

[Omaha Steve]

https://apnews.com/article/union-pacific-railroad-medical-leave-lawsuits-sick-time-ab248c97d5237c3ef071dd196ce4999b

By JOSH FUNK yesterday

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific routinely hires private investigators to check out employees’ medical leave claims and then fires anyone who happens to leave their house while out on leave, according to a lawsuit filed against the railroad.

The lawyer who last month filed one of the first lawsuits in a case like this in Texas said this practice is another example of how the railroads keep the pressure on train crews to remain on call 24-7 while making them afraid to take unpaid time off they’re supposed to get under the Family Medical Leave Act.

Now that the Texas case is moving forward in the courts, the lawyer, Nick Thompson, said he plans to look into the claims of several other UP employees who have contacted him with similar concerns that could turn into additional lawsuits.

“Ultimately, this has the effect Union Pacific wants: It scares people from using FMLA,” Thompson said.

FULL story at link above.

[dutch777]

1. Not the only one's doing this. My step son works for a major retailer...

He got Covid right before the holidays. By company policy he had to be off at least 10 days and had to be cleared medically and by a third party evaluator before he could return to work. While his medical clearance came back okay, the third party evaluator was not very attentive and the issue lingered. The store manager sent a notice that because he was not showing up for work, he was being fired for "abandoning the job". He noted that per company policy he was not allowed to return to work as this third party evaluator had not cleared him. Luckily as he was emailing the manager he was BCCing someone he knew in HR. Finally when everyone showed back up after the holidays and realized the series of errors and that the company was setting itself up for a wrongful termination lawsuit, which is where this was going to go over this level of blatant stupidity, HR intervened and set the store manager straight and the step son was reinstated with no penalty. Gotta be willing to fight for your rights.

[czarjak]

2. Better not contract viral pneumonia and be ordered to seven days bedrest either.

They've been whittling away at workers rights since forever.