Although the worker was on a two-year fixed-term contract, she was still on her probationary period, so the two-year term wasn’t yet guaranteed, said the board.
The board determined that APGN had failed to meet its burden of proving that the worker’s termination was unrelated to her taking protected leave under the ESA. APGN was ordered to pay the worker a total of $23,038.46 in damages, including: $18,846.15 for loss of wages from her termination to Jan. 2, 2023, when she secured alternate employment; $2,692.31 for loss of the job’s inherent value, and $1,500 for emotional pain and suffering.
The case is a good warning for employers to make sure that everyone in their organization who’s leading and supervising people is trained on statutory rights of employees such as protected leaves, says Smith.
“Provide true, in-depth training to make sure that your managers understand, because they’re the ones who are dealing with employees and that’s where a lot of the liabilities can come from,” he says. “Make sure that they’re trained on all the things that they can and can’t do, and should and shouldn’t consider, around discipline and termination decisions.”
“And at the same time, make sure that things are being documented – HR should be managing the employee files and ensuring that, as managers go through that probationary period with new employees, they’re documenting things properly,” adds Smith. “So if the employer does have to make a decision to move on, then it has the evidence to show that it had a legitimate basis.”
