Sometimes, lawyers are prompted to give advices that are considered improper and unlawful. This paper discusses an incidence where I received a piece of actionable information from a friend concerning my rights as an employee. As a result, I was fired from my place of work.
Five months ago, I contracted the break-bone fever that two took me close to two weeks to recover. Consequently, I approached my friend who is the assistant of the corporate lawyer in the organization on advice on the matter. My friend told me that I was entitled to six weeks sick leave hence prompting me to continue with my leave without formally informing my employer. Therefore, it resulted in my dismissal from the job. When I explained my employer about the six weeks leave, he showed me the terms and conditions of the agreement where it was stated that an employee is only eligible for six weeks to leave within 36 months. Otherwise, in a case where they need more time to recover like it was my case, one is supposed to notify the manager using the sick note from the doctor. In such circumstances, the leave can always be granted to the worker without pay.
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I was quite worried about the matter. Therefore, I blamed my friend for innocently giving me misleading advice that resulted in the loss of my job. Again, I was even more furious with my employer for not only disagreeing with me, but he also did not confirm the matter with Job. I even shouted at my employer and promised to take the issue to the employment tribunal.
When I went to my friend Job about the matter, he refused to take responsibility and stated that I should not blame him for the misfortune. On the other hand, when I discussed the issue with my wife, she advised me that it was prudent if I took the matter to court. It has been four months since I was dismissed from the company. I have not been able to secure another job since then. The fact that the entity did not pay any sick pay during my last salary has pushed me to develop an interest in learning about employee rights.
Later, I decided to consult a well-conversant lawyer who said that the case was on the issue of unlawful dismissal of the long-term sick employee (Gangl, 2012). Even though the lawyer stated that I had a right to a fair termination, he also warned me concerning the risks involved with the issue. First, he argued that based on the employment agreement, I was not legible for appealing the matter. I had only worked for the company for nine months; thus disqualifying me for the six weeks leave.
Additionally, the government of the United States requires that a person works for at least one year for them to qualify for unfair dismissal. For that matter, he advised me to consider settling the case with my manager as the court method may be costly for me. Besides, he reminded me that employers are always keen personnel and that the fact that I did not present any medical report to the management I held quite a low chance of winning the case (Estreicher & Hirsch, 2013). He also said that it was risky to continue with the decision to sue the employer as I did not have witnesses and to make matters worse I took advice from a person who was not responsible for providing legal advice.
On scrutinizing Job based on the requirements, I realized that the might not have been aware of the full facts regarding employees’ rights as he is not a lawyer hence giving rise to the “pro bono” client relationship. It is quite complicated as Job is listed in LLB and not listed as a lawyer. Accordingly, the law regarding the ability and the right of a solicitor giving advice does not apply to him (Stobbs, 2015).
The lawyer went ahead and told me that the law requires all people who give legal advice be in authorized frontline statutory regulator. Even though Job does hold the necessary qualifications, he is not a licensed lawyer. I was thrilled to know that despite not holding a chance in the dismissal case, I could still take my case to court and blame Job for misleading me with his advice. This would eventually make my case to be stronger and can even help in getting back my job. Also though the employer was fair in terminating me from my position, he should have been reasonable enough to listen to my reasons.
The employee tribunal of 2013 argues that employers cannot dismiss employees without considering their reasons and that only authorized persons are legible for giving legal advice (Stobbs, 2015). In a perfect world, mutual consent can be applied in resolving the matter it would be necessary for the employer to understand that the worker did not understand the case. Hardworking employees should be warned and not being dismissed.
Conclusively, the wrong advice that I received from my friend Job led to the loss of my job. I failed to notify my employers of the continued sick leave. It is, therefore essential to consider the eligibility and qualification of the people offering legal advice to avoid the cases of adverse consequences.
References
Estreicher, S., & Hirsch, J. M. (2013). Comparative Wrongful Dismissal Law: Reassessing American Exceptionalism. NCL Rev. , 92 , 343.
Gangl, M. (2012). Unemployment Dynamics in the United States and West Germany: Economic Restructuring, Institutions and Labor Market Processes . Springer Science & Business Media.
Stobbs. M, (2015). The dangers of giving informal advice, retrieved from http://blogs.lexisnexis.co.uk/wipit/the-dangers-of-giving-informal-advice/
