On the first day of 2017, 30-year-old Lamar Austin welcomed a son, Cainan, with wife Lindsay in Concord, New Hampshire. But what was supposed to be a happy day took a turn as Austin was fired on the same day for attending his son’s birth.
According to the Huffington Post, Lindsay went into labor on Dec. 31. Though Austin was scheduled to work his shift as a part-time security guard with a company called Salerno Protective Services that night, he opted to be by his wife’s side as she prepared to give birth to their fourth child.
“I told my boss that I wanted to be there for my wife when she had the baby,” Austin told People. “She was more important. I wanted to do good by my family.”
However, Austin’s supervisor said that if he failed to report to work by 8 a.m. the next morning, he would be terminated. Austin has just started his job and was on a 90-day trial period. Though the military veteran had perfect attendance on his previous shifts, he received a text from the company at 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, telling him that he has been fired.
Austin told People that he was “stunned” about his firing, but thought that he did the right thing by being at the place where he was needed the most at the time, which is by his wife’s side.
After The Concorde Monitor first reported this story, many people were outraged over Austin’s firing. But the 30-year-old has very little in the way of legal protection. Apparently, New Hampshire is an “at-will employment” state, wherein an employer may terminate an employee at any time and for any reason.
Since the family’s story became viral, Austin has been inundated with job offers, and the family is also receiving financial support from complete strangers. A GoFundMe page for Austin has even been created to help him out, which now has over $10,000 of donations.
Austin has been very grateful for the community’s support and is determined to pursue an apprenticeship from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Concorde. This was offered to him by business manager Denis Beaudoin, who was moved to get in touch with Austin after reading the story in The Concorde Monitor.
As Austin prepares to jump back into the workplace, he is taking the time to bond with little Cainan, saying that he may have lost his job, but he gained something “so much better.”
For more, check out Jobs & Hire’s report on how to figure out if you were wrongfully terminated.
