What is an employer’s legal obligation to give a job back to someone who has been out due to a non-work related accident?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What is an employer’s legal obligation to give a job back to someone who has been out due to a non-work related accident?
An employee was involved in a car accident and was unable to return to work for more than a year. Recently he came back. Does the company have to give him his job back with the same status as before his accident? He has been cleared medically with no restrictions.
Asked on August 17, 2011 California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
IF there was some agreement, including a union or collective bargaining agreement--requiring that the employee be reinstated, or holding or guarantying his job--that agreement would be enforceable. However, in the absence of some agrement, the employee is an employee at will, and a company may fire an employee at will at any time, for any reason. A company also has essentially total discretion on who to hire or employ, so long as they are not discriminating against people on the basis of race, religion, sex, age over 40, disability, etc. (And if the employee is cleared medically, he's not likely disabled.)
So unless is some agreement requiring the company to give him back his job, they do not seem to have to do so.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.