'That Was What Hurt the Most': Workers push for just-cause laws to replace at-will firings.

• Author: Johnson, Sharon

In April 2020, Manuela Sepulveda, a home health aide in Chicago, informed her employer that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and needed to quarantine for two weeks to ensure her health and protect her clients.

Although Sepulveda didn't experience severe symptoms or health complications, she paid a heavy price. She lost her job, which delivered a devastating blow to her finances and mental health.

The nonprofit health agency refused to accept a note from Sepulveda's physician stating that it was safe for her to return to work and demanded that she produce documentation of a negative test result. The stringent deadline was a major hurdle; tests were in short supply. Most test sites refused to retest those who had safely quarantined. But Sepulveda persevered, obtaining an appointment one day after the arbitrary deadline.

When Sepulveda informed her employer of the date, she was fired.

"After risking my life to go to work, to not be valued at all, that was what hurt the most," Sepulveda told researchers from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a New York City-based nonprofit that studies and recommends workplace policies. She said employers like hers "don't value us as humans and don't think about how an unjust firing impacts not just the worker but an entire family, both economically and emotionally."

Like most low-wage workers, Sepulveda lived paycheck to paycheck. Unable to pay her bills, she sank into a deep depression. Today, she has a new job that enables her to provide for her family, but still worries about the long-term impact of her depression on her son.

Sepulveda's experience is not unusual, says Irene Tung, co-author of NELP's March 2021 report: "Secure Jobs, Safe Workplaces, and Stable Communities: Ending At-Will Employment in Illinois."

"Our study of 806 Illinois workers revealed dozens of unfair firings," Tung says in a phone interview. "In Illinois and most other states, employment laws allow employers to fire workers abruptly--without cause, or even without a good reason--and leave them with bills due and no paycheck or severance pay."

The statewide survey found that almost half of all workers in Illinois (46 percent) have been fired or let go from jobs at some point in their careers. More than one in three (37 percent) reported that they were fired for no reason or an unfair reason, and 71 percent said that they had borrowed money or used credit cards to pay their bills. Two out of three depleted all their savings...