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08-16-2010, 11:28 PM
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Heat Illness Leads Worker To Loss Of Job
Posted: 9:52 am CDT August 14, 2010
Updated: 10:05 am CDT August 14, 2010
Lenexa, Kan. -- A golf course groundskeeper said he was fired because he was forced to take some time off after suffering a heat-related illness on the job.
Michael Jennings is enjoying what could be his final days in his new apartment after being fired from his job on the grounds crew at Smiley's Golf Complex in Lenexa. The 19-year-old Lenexa resident said last week he was at work when he began feeling ill while working in the blazing heat.
Jennings' doctor said he suffered a heat-related illness and told him to take a few days off. Jennings said when he went back to work last Friday, he got sick again. The doctor told him to rest over the weekend. Jennings said things had changed when he showed up for work the following Monday.
"At about 4:50 (a.m.), some kid rolled up in his car, and I'm like, 'I don't know who this kid is at 5 in the morning,'" Jennings said. "What's he doing here? And he said, 'I'm here to work on the grounds crew today.' And I said, 'That's my job.'"
Jennings said that's when he knew he'd been fired, although no one had told him. KCTV5 tried Friday to talk to Smiley's owner Dennis Tull but a worker at the complex said Tull was unavailable for comment.
"The law side of it says, if I have a doctor's note, and it's present, and it's presented to the employer and I have a significant reason for being out of work -- especially if my doctor's willing to call them and tell them -- then there is absolutely no reason that they should fire me for that," Jennings said.
In the meantime, Jennings said he is thinking of short-term solutions. "If I don't find a job within the next month, it could happen to the point where they'll evict me from this place, and I'll be back at home with my mom," he said. "Just because I had an illness, which, it really does suck."
The golf course has referred all further inquiries to its lawyer. Jennings, meanwhile, is mulling over the option of hiring a lawyer himself.
Copyright 2010 by KCTV5.com. All rights reserved.
Heat Illness Leads Worker To Loss Of Job
Posted: 9:52 am CDT August 14, 2010
Updated: 10:05 am CDT August 14, 2010
Lenexa, Kan. -- A golf course groundskeeper said he was fired because he was forced to take some time off after suffering a heat-related illness on the job.
Michael Jennings is enjoying what could be his final days in his new apartment after being fired from his job on the grounds crew at Smiley's Golf Complex in Lenexa. The 19-year-old Lenexa resident said last week he was at work when he began feeling ill while working in the blazing heat.
Jennings' doctor said he suffered a heat-related illness and told him to take a few days off. Jennings said when he went back to work last Friday, he got sick again. The doctor told him to rest over the weekend. Jennings said things had changed when he showed up for work the following Monday.
"At about 4:50 (a.m.), some kid rolled up in his car, and I'm like, 'I don't know who this kid is at 5 in the morning,'" Jennings said. "What's he doing here? And he said, 'I'm here to work on the grounds crew today.' And I said, 'That's my job.'"
Jennings said that's when he knew he'd been fired, although no one had told him. KCTV5 tried Friday to talk to Smiley's owner Dennis Tull but a worker at the complex said Tull was unavailable for comment.
"The law side of it says, if I have a doctor's note, and it's present, and it's presented to the employer and I have a significant reason for being out of work -- especially if my doctor's willing to call them and tell them -- then there is absolutely no reason that they should fire me for that," Jennings said.
In the meantime, Jennings said he is thinking of short-term solutions. "If I don't find a job within the next month, it could happen to the point where they'll evict me from this place, and I'll be back at home with my mom," he said. "Just because I had an illness, which, it really does suck."
The golf course has referred all further inquiries to its lawyer. Jennings, meanwhile, is mulling over the option of hiring a lawyer himself.
Copyright 2010 by KCTV5.com. All rights reserved.