(c) The Act's prohibition against interference prohibits an employer from discriminating or retaliating against an employee or prospective employee for having exercised or attempted to exercise FMLA rights. For example, if an employee on leave without pay would otherwise be entitled to full benefits (other than health benefits), the same benefits would be required to be provided to an employee on unpaid FMLA leave. By the same token, employers cannot use the taking of FMLA leave as a negative factor in employment actions, such as hiring, promotions or disciplinary actions; nor can FMLA leave be counted under no fault attendance policies. See § 825.215.
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I'll also point to things like Employer Makes $1.3 Million FMLA Mistake by Firing Worker After Mexico Trip that demonstrate the "be careful when dealing with discipline of people who are on FMLA and check with a lawyer first." https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/...
If they are on FMLA you can’t fire them but you can eliminate their job. However, if they are on a leave unrelated to FMLA there might be no protections and the employee can be terminated.
I’m on the spectrum and I have both family and friends on the spectrum. None of them would want to fire thousands of people on a whim. That’s not what being on the spectrum is like. Uncaring is not an apt word at all, and it would be just as surprising for someone on the spectrum to be truly uncaring as any neurotypical person.
They might seem uncaring in fleeting moments due to communication breakdown. They might not understand other peoples’ needs at all times. That’s far, far different from executing on the unemployment of thousands as though they are just crumpled up balls of cash to throw in the waste bin. Not remotely comparable.
I'm on the spectrum and I'm not a piece of shit to my employees. Being on the spectrum does not automatically make someone an asshole. That is personal failure of Musk.
Yeah... by definition, being on the a-spectrum makes it harder to understand how other people think and will react.
But this isn't some faux pas. I'm sure Elon understands quite well how it's going to feel for everyone involved, he just doesn't care. That's a different kind of spectrum. The b spectrum you could say.
> Pretty cruel if you ask me. Or more like uncaring at all. But not unexpected from people on the spectrum...
This is not how autism works. Autism is not the inability to empathize; autistic people absolutely experience empathy (even if they often have difficulty recognizing body language that would often trigger empathy in social contexts). A lack of empathy/penchant for cruelty would suggest something like sociopathy or narcicissm rather than autism.
Cruelty is actually more reasonable to expect from someone who has excellent understanding of other persons’ emotions and simply enjoys making them suffer.
