Those are the basic facts of O'Bryan v. Joe Taylor Restoration, and upon which a federal court jury in Southern Florida recently entered a verdict in favor of the employer.
O'Bryan's lawsuit claimed that his employer had denied him paid sick leave under the FFCRA during his quarantine and retaliated against him for seeking paid sick leave. The employer uncovered his dishonesty when it saw a discrepancy between the alleged note ordering the quarantine and a later note authorizing his return to work.
Covid has altered a lot about the workplace. Thankfully, however, the ability of an employer to fire a dishonest employee has not been one of them.
* Photo by Taras Chernus on Unsplash