Originally Posted by GoAngels

It has been quite a few months for me. My wife was pregnant with our second child when we found out during a routine ultrasound that he has a congenital heart defect. He was born two weeks ago and has not needed treatment so far. He looks just as healthy and is gaining lots of weight. However, our cardiologist is telling us to prepare for surgery within the next 3-6 months.

With all this going on, I started a new job as a Medi-Cal (known as Medicaid in other states) worker. We had to go to 3 appointments per week for my wife and unborn son. While we did our best to schedule appointments, I missed about 1.5-2 hours per week plus a few days when my son was born. I spoke to my supervisors and everyone seemed very understanding. At one point, we were told that management wanted a list of trainees who had more than 3 absences, but I thought I was on solid ground given my situation. Then, two weeks after my son was born, they decided to terminate me. As a probationary employee, their termination letter (which a supervisor read to me) did not list a reason. However, I was the top student in my training class with a 98% average, so it was readily apparent that I was being terminated because of my absences.

I'm trying to get my job back, so far I've written a letter to the person in charge of making the termination decision. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try to get the head of the department involved, then the board of supervisors, and my congressperson. I've tried to get the newspaper to hear my story but they aren't interested unless I file a lawsuit and I am not there yet.

Anyway, I hate to be a downer, but this really has me questioning people's decency. In all my previous jobs, I took maybe 1-2 sick days a year and my wife had to beg me to take vacations. I didn't expect to be treated this way, especially working for a government agency whose sole purpose is to help children and the downtrodden.