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Hello I am new here and thought I could get some advice, I have been employed as a Property Manager for a storage company in new Jersey for almost 3 years. I started out in a inside property with minimal lifting and physical labor although my job description states that I have to be able to lift at least 50 pounds at any given time. last Nov i had a heart attack and a Quad -by pass which kept me out of work until feb of this year. I returned to work with restrictions and did perform my job very well, In march-April my restrictions were taken away and the company moved me to an outside storage facility which had many issues. The storage doors are very heavy and the facility needed so much work I was a little scared to do this but they insisted this would be a fine place for me to work. I did my best to do my job and came home every night in a lot of pain from lifting heavy doors, cleaning units this was a lot more physical than my last facility and i am still trying to heal from my quad by-pass. I told my DM that i needed help here because it was a little to much for me and he said no problem but never sent anyone to help. I just went to my Cardiologist the other day who ran some tests and said I need to stop working until the 25th of this month to take some time to rest because I am in a lot of pain, He gave me restrictions know not to lift more than 25 pounds for at least several months also scheduled a series of tests including a stress test. I spoke with my HR manager today and he was given all this information and said when I return he could grant me a temp accommodationhttp://www.laborlawtalk.com/images/smilies/frown.png but this might only last 1 month at the most. He stressed to me that at that time they will most likely ask me to resign because I cannot perform my job duties as described in my job description / He also said If I do not resign at that time I will be fired, Why is he giving me this choice? He also told me that If I need to get unemployment benefits that the company will not contest it. They understand that I cannot perform my duties here and need to seek a more suitable position somewhere else. What should I do? Resign now or wait? Will I get Unemployment Benefits?
Wait until they fire you, they are probably giving you the option to quit incase you really can't take it anymore and just want to be done with it. It's good that they are saying they will not contest the unemployment benefits just wait until they fire you so that you are eligible, if you quit you will not be.
You sound like a hard worker which is probably why they are accomodating you at all, but remember your health is more important do not over do it when you go back to work. Literally do only what you can and just wait for them to fire you. I know when you are at work sometimes issues will come up that you feel like you "have" to do, trust me if you have a heart attack right there the only one whose life will be over will be you, business will go on as usual, so don't put yourself in harms way.
I actually don't think they can force you to resign or fire you because you had a medical issue come up AFTER you had been working there that prevents you from lifting. I would check an employment or legal matters forum before you do either one.
I want to add, I think (but am not sure) you have the option of going out on permanent disability rather than fired or resigning. The company might have to pay into that, so it is in their best interest to get you to think you have no other options. Do not make any decisions until you can find out all your options.
Hello I am new here and thought I could get some advice, I have been employed as a Property Manager for a storage company in new Jersey for almost 3 years. I started out in a inside property with minimal lifting and physical labor although my job description states that I have to be able to lift at least 50 pounds at any given time. last Nov i had a heart attack and a Quad -by pass which kept me out of work until feb of this year. I returned to work with restrictions and did perform my job very well, In march-April my restrictions were taken away and the company moved me to an outside storage facility which had many issues. The storage doors are very heavy and the facility needed so much work I was a little scared to do this but they insisted this would be a fine place for me to work. I did my best to do my job and came home every night in a lot of pain from lifting heavy doors, cleaning units this was a lot more physical than my last facility and i am still trying to heal from my quad by-pass. I told my DM that i needed help here because it was a little to much for me and he said no problem but never sent anyone to help. I just went to my Cardiologist the other day who ran some tests and said I need to stop working until the 25th of this month to take some time to rest because I am in a lot of pain, He gave me restrictions know not to lift more than 25 pounds for at least several months also scheduled a series of tests including a stress test. I spoke with my HR manager today and he was given all this information and said when I return he could grant me a temp accommodation but this might only last 1 month at the most. He stressed to me that at that time they will most likely ask me to resign because I cannot perform my job duties as described in my job description / He also said If I do not resign at that time I will be fired, Why is he giving me this choice? He also told me that If I need to get unemployment benefits that the company will not contest it. They understand that I cannot perform my duties here and need to seek a more suitable position somewhere else. What should I do? Resign now or wait? Will I get Unemployment Benefits?
If they will not contest the unemployment benefits if you resign and you're sure you won't recover, it's probably best to resign. But I would get something in writing first, even if it's just a memo or email.
If they will not contest the unemployment benefits if you resign and you're sure you won't recover, it's probably best to resign. But I would get something in writing first, even if it's just a memo or email.
You NEED an employment attorney! Consult one before doing ANYTHING
Even knowing a good chunk of labor laws, I would highly suggest that you contact a labor law attorney. They are required to give you reasonable accomodation for your condition/disability, but that can mean many different things. They are going to hang their hat on the fact that you are unable to perform your duties to the letter of the job desription, but there is a lot of grey area regarding what percentage of your job do those duties entail and whether or not there are other similar jobs that you can do that would not require the duties you are resticted from.
Another course here is whether or not your medical condition will make you permanently disabled in your field of work. If they are arguing that you can be fired for your duty restrictions, you can feasibly argue that you are disabled for your line of work and should be eligible for either benefits through long term disability insurance or SSI.
There are way too many factors here and the fact they have asked you to resign under threat of firing and offered "no contest" on unemployment (really a BS move as it is very hard to contest unemployment without a good paper trail), they think there is a chance they will be forced to make reasonable accomodation or that you may qualify for disability coverage.
If you are fired there will be a delay in unemployment. You will miss several weeks of payments. If you resign you will get nothing. They need to lay you off to collect unemployment. If they do that you collect immediately. At least that is how it was a few years ago.
Get a good lawyer. Trust me when i tell you that they are hoping you will leave... They can fire you but if you get a lawyer, and you have medical proof you will win it easy..
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