Owning a Business Sucks Sometimes.

[DanGarion]

My wife and I bought a dog grooming business (that she worked for) nearly 7 years ago. Last year when we had our daughter my wife hired a new employee (we have 3 total) that would do the grooming my wife used to do. This left my wife just as the owner and she has just been coming in on Saturdays since.

One of our long time employees is the acting manager of the shop.

The employee that we hired last year was really good for the first 6 months but has become really flaky, especially as of yet. She has been calling out and coming in late at lot. We have been documenting this along with all the duties she isn't performing the entire time.

We were going to be letting her go soon. Today when my wife called the shop she talks to the employee and she starts talking about her knee and that it has been really bothering her. She then says to my wife that it's been bothering her since she hit it at the shop and fell. She never told my wife she injured herself and from what I know the acting manager never knew she injured herself at work either. I guess she took it upon herself to go to an urgent care (whenever this happened) and now the urgent care says she should see her doctor. WE have workers comp, she never notified us of the injury so we never started the workers comp paperwork. Now she has us screwed because she injured herself without telling us till today and she has been a terrible employee. So it seems we are basically backed into a corner since if we fire her now that she has an "injury" she might end up taking us to court, which is something we can't afford.

My wife has been wanting to sell the business and just get out but now with this everything is up in the air. I just need to rant here, extremely frustrating situation, especially since I'm not at home this week and my wife called me pretty much crying on the phone about everything. FUCK.

[BillJasper]

Seems like she would have an issue claiming workers comp if she never filed an incident report which she would have gotten a copy of.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Seems like she would have an issue claiming workers comp if she never filed an incident report which she would have gotten a copy of.

This. There's no proof that it happened at work.

[DanGarion]

That is the same thing I think. We are more worried right now that she could "try" to sue us if we fire her due to her bad work habits. We are going to be speaking with our lawyer on Friday regarding the situation. I need to review the attendance logs and find out what date she injured herself (since I don't really know when it was).

[DanGarion]

Funny thing while she was talking to my wife today she acted like my wife was there when it happened and my wife didn't respond to that comment since she has no recollection of any fall.

My wife is hypersensitive to ANYTHING close to an injury happening at the business because she is so worried about anything happening to anyone or any dog. That's one of the reasons she really wants to get out of ownership, she HATES it.

[DanGarion]

I'm wondering if we should file workers comp paperwork for this incident now and send her to urgent care or ??

[SportsDino]

Keep records of all communications, particularly written information and do whatever your lawyer tells you as far documentation. Probably should not do anything until you talk to the lawyer since it is not that far off, you do not want to shoot yourself in the foot.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by SportsDino

Keep records of all communications, particularly written information and do whatever your lawyer tells you as far documentation. Probably should not do anything until you talk to the lawyer since it is not that far off, you do not want to shoot yourself in the foot.

Yeah that makes sense, especially since it already happened whenever it was.

Thanks.

[jeff061]

I've been through similar situations at work, including one time when the employee in question knew he was going to be fired, so came out of the closet and accused his managers of discriminating against him. Every time the firing is delayed until a lawyer can be consulted, once lawyer is consulted the firing commences as planned. I think you will have a similar outcome.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I'm wondering if we should file workers comp paperwork for this incident now and send her to urgent care or ??

Absolutely not.

As others have said - at this point you do NOTHING until you talk to the lawyer.

Since it wasn't reported at the time of the incident (if there was one) the burden will be on HER to prove that it happened at work (which, practically speaking, she can't do, so I'd imagine any lawyer will tell her she has no case to sue), so I imagine once you fill in your lawyer he'll give you proper advice.

[Coffee Warlord]

First rule of firing anyone - document, document, document. What's going to save you is the fact that you've been doing that.

[sooner333]

I saw this Barker Olmsted & Barnier :: A Professional Law Corporation which is probably good news. Obviously your attorney will know best.

Also it looks like the FEHA applies to businesses with 5 or more employees, also a plus.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Hate this kind of stuff. I've had to deal with it at my business before. Guy I caught drinking while bartending suddenly comes up with an injury on the job. Thankfully, I had a camera in the area he said it happened. Rolled the footage during the time he said it happened and found that he wasn't even in that area for the 24 hours surrounding that time. Fired his ass on the spot. No patience for that kind of junk.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by SportsDino

Keep records of all communications, particularly written information and do whatever your lawyer tells you as far documentation. Probably should not do anything until you talk to the lawyer since it is not that far off, you do not want to shoot yourself in the foot.

But if you did so at the work site, you could sue for workma-- too soon?

SI

[Ragone]

As most of you know, I work for Ford Motor Company. I am fairly sure you are required by workmans comp law to report any workplace injury as soon as feasibly possible to employer..

That's not to say your employee couldn't go out and hurt themselves playing tennis(for example).. and come in the next day and fall down early and claim it happened at work.

[mrtourette]

As long as you've documented the various trangressions over time you should be able to defend yourself when the inevitable 'you're only firing me because of an injury that happened at work' claim comes in. You haven't mentioned it but you should really have been speaking to the employee about these things and documenting those discussions as well, but as a small business owner I guess it's easy not to think about that sort of thing until it's too late.

[albionmoonlight]

Talk to a lawyer. You are dealing with general employment law, workers comp, HIPPA, ADA, etc. etc. etc. Don't try to do this on your own.

[albionmoonlight]

dola, and I see that you are in CA. Which I am sure means about 50 different state laws/regulations in addition to all of the possible federal stuff.

[Easy Mac]

Consult with your workers' comp insurance carrier. Most states have laws about needing to file paperwork within a certain amount of time being notified of the injury. Really just let your insurance company know and they'll handle pretty much everything and walk you through anything you need to do, including getting a lawyer if/when necessary. Just make sure everything is documented regarding everything.

Easy for me to say since it's not my business, but this isn't anything to get worked up over.

[JediKooter]

California is an "At Will" state. Still documentation is always good to have.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

My wife and I bought a dog grooming business (that she worked for) nearly 7 years ago. Last year when we had our daughter my wife hired a new employee (we have 3 total) that would do the grooming my wife used to do. This left my wife just as the owner and she has just been coming in on Saturdays since.

One of our long time employees is the acting manager of the shop.

The employee that we hired last year was really good for the first 6 months but has become really flaky, especially as of yet. She has been calling out and coming in late at lot. We have been documenting this along with all the duties she isn't performing the entire time.

We were going to be letting her go soon. Today when my wife called the shop she talks to the employee and she starts talking about her knee and that it has been really bothering her. She then says to my wife that it's been bothering her since she hit it at the shop and fell. She never told my wife she injured herself and from what I know the acting manager never knew she injured herself at work either. I guess she took it upon herself to go to an urgent care (whenever this happened) and now the urgent care says she should see her doctor. WE have workers comp, she never notified us of the injury so we never started the workers comp paperwork. Now she has us screwed because she injured herself without telling us till today and she has been a terrible employee. So it seems we are basically backed into a corner since if we fire her now that she has an "injury" she might end up taking us to court, which is something we can't afford.

My wife has been wanting to sell the business and just get out but now with this everything is up in the air. I just need to rant here, extremely frustrating situation, especially since I'm not at home this week and my wife called me pretty much crying on the phone about everything. FUCK.

Aint owning a business fun.
A few thought from me.
- If she took it upon herself to go to urgent care that visit and notes will be disclosed during discovery. If she didnt inform them it happened at work the case is over (my experience...in SC ...CA is different but you get the idea) She is required by law to notify her employer and follow their instructions regarding medical care to some extent. (Again can vary by state)
-
Do not file a WC claim until meeting with your lawyer, and if they suggest opening one at this point Id seriously consider finding another lawyer for a second opinion

- Most of the time an employee who is too lazy to come to work is too lazy to go through with a lawsuit anyway.

- Totally side note but I am a big big believer in meeting with an employee as soon as behavior changes. Sometimes a factor in their life has changed and made them not as dependable, sometimes their attitude has changed, and sometimes they have just gotten complacent and you can correct it with a quick meeting. You may have already done all this and if not its too late at this point with the "threat" of a workplace injury already on the table.

Good luck though however it works out.

[DanGarion]

Thank you everybody. This is pretty much most of what my thoughts were, but you have all helped. I'm the calm one when all this type of stuff blows up my wife is the one that worries. I appreciate all the comments and I will try not to shoot myself in the foot...