St. Petersburg woman says H1N1 got her fired

St. Petersburg, Florida - The CDC recommends staying home from school and work if you have the H1N1 flu. President Obama has asked employers to be lenient with employees who have the virus and miss work days. One 10 Connects viewer called saying, her former employer isn't listening.

Priscilla Lewis says she never thought an illness like H1N1 would cost her her job.

"It has definitely affected me a number of ways, financially medically and stability," says Lewis. She adds, "I felt singled out. I feel I was wrongfully terminated for something I have no control over, a national pandemic."

Lewis says she has filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against her former employer, Florida Default Law Group in Tampa.

"People are encouraged to stay home. When I return to work I'm fired," says Lewis.

Lewis says she had not been feeling well for a couple of days, when on October 28, she went to the emergency room at St. Anthony's hospital where she says doctors diagnosed her with H1N1. They prescribed her Tamiflu, ordered her to see her physician the next day and to stay home at least through Monday November 2.

Lewis' medical documents show her primary doctor extended her time away from work by a day so she'd finish the 5-day prescription of Tamiflu and would no longer be contagious.

Meanwhile, Lewis says she made daily contact with her immediate supervisor and by email to Human Resource officials.

One HR person's email says, "We have had several employees who have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus over the past several months and in all instances, we applied the same policy, which is to encourage them to stay home and rest while ill/contagious and get a doctor's permission to return to work."   

A company email in August to employees also makes that recommendation.

Yet when Lewis returned to work November 4 as ordered by her doctor, she got the bad news from her immediate supervisor that morning, "Because of this absence we are going to have to terminate you."

Lewis says she has had other absences during the year, but they've all been excused for medical reasons. "I had not been given any type of written or any type of warning related to absences," says Lewis.

Now the 40-year-old single mother of a 10-year-old boy is looking for a job.

Lewis says, "Here I am, a willing able body now during that time my disability did not allow me to go back to work. I felt like it was a slap in the face. I felt I was discriminated against, based on my medical condition."

10 Connects left message for Lewis' immediate supervisor and two human resource officials for Florida Default Group out of Tampa, but no one has returned our calls.