By EMS1 Staff
DICKINSON, N.D. — A veteran dispatcher is asking for her job back after claiming she was terminated for taking sick leave to battle cancer.
Joan Koenig, a 13-year veteran, was diagnosed with cancer September 2016. Since then, she took time off to undergo treatment, reported the Dickinson Press. City officials said Koenig used up her sick leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, which requires employers to protect their employee’s positions and allow them to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Koenig had also used sick leave donated by her colleagues.
Koenig’s attorney said the city miscalculated her FMLA leave and she was terminated before she had used up all of her sick leave.
While she was still working, Koenig asked her colleagues to let her and her supervisors know if they noticed any changes in her ability to complete her job, and intervene if necessary.
“Because of the position that she holds, not always are they able to have someone looking over their calls,” Shelly Nameniuk, the call center’s human resource coordinator, said. “They need to be able to be on their A-game. If they get a call, someone else might be on a different call, and she may have to handle this call completely on her own. She was doubting her own ability to do her job, which, of course, concerns us.”
Dickinson Police Chief Dustin Dassinger said he and other officials searched for alternatives to terminating Koenig, but were unable to find one.
“We discussed what our options were as far as the operating guidelines of the city of Dickinson, and that was the decision that was made,” Dassinger said. “It was not an easy decision.”
The civil service commission will meet Feb. 14 to discuss Koenig’s case; they must come to a decision by Feb. 20.