Military Spouse Employment Loss After Caregiver Responsibilities
As part of their role, a military spouse must make many sacrifices. In some instances, they end up sacrificing their own employment and ability to earn a living when they need to care for their injured spouse. If you are a military spouse who has wrongfully lost your job because you took time to care for your own spouse, you may seek compensation or file a lawsuit.
Financial Help for Military Families
Before you file your own claim for wrongful termination, you should look into various programs that may help ease your financial burden as a spouse caring for an injured service member. The following may exist to help:
- Unemployment benefits – While you generally may not qualify when you quit your job, there may be an exception when caring for an injured servicemember spouse
- VA Caregiver support – The VA may give you a monthly stipend and cover certain expenses if you are providing care for an injured spouse
- Nonprofit grants – There are organizations that give grants to military families in difficult situations
Lawsuits to Recover the Spouse’s Lost Wages
If the injured service member was filing a claim against a third party responsible for their injury (they cannot directly sue the U.S. government for injuries connected to their service), a spouse’s lost wages may become part of the damages if they need to give up their own job. However, in many cases, the service member must turn elsewhere for compensation after their injury, including disability benefits. Thus, the spouse who lost their job may need to file their own legal action to seek financial compensation for their own losses.
You might sue your employer when they have violated your rights. First, under the Family and Medical Leave Act, you may take a certain amount of time off from work to care for a sick family member without losing your job. You can file a direct lawsuit against your employer when they have violated your rights under the FMLA.
You can also file an employment discrimination lawsuit when the employer has wrongfully retaliated against you for exercising your rights to act as a caregiver. For example, if you have returned to work to find that you received a bad performance evaluation or you were denied a promotion because of the time that you have missed, you can potentially sue your employer.
It is up to you to be vigilant in looking for signs that you may have been discriminated against and gathering potential evidence that can be used in your case since you will rarely have direct proof of discrimination.
Contact an Orange County Military PI Lawyer to Learn More About Your Rights
To learn more about whether a spouse’s loss of their job can be a part of the injured servicemember’s claim or whether they may have their own independent lawsuit, reach out to the Law Offices of William Bruzzo. You can schedule a free initial consultation with a military PI attorney by filling out an online contact form or by calling us today at (714) 547-4636.
