In a viral video, TikTok user Gisselle Montero (@babyg.888) claimed that her boss posted her job on Indeed, a popular employment classifieds site, after she was hospitalized for multiple gunshot wounds.
She wrote in the text overlay: “When I was on medical leave and sent my boss all my dr notes because I was sh0t 8 times and was left with a fractured shoulder, multiple [water gun emoji]sh0t wounds and couldn’t walk for a month and my coworker sent me a screenshot of my job posted on indeed.”
@babyg.888 Who’s hiring 🤠 #jobsearch #job #indeed #hiring #socialmediamanager #linkedin #gunviolenceawareness #gunviolenceneedstostop ♬ WHY YALL USING THIS SOUND OML – CYRUS
Montero uploaded several clips about the nature of the shooting. She said her boyfriend’s stepfather shot her eight times on Black Friday in 2022. She initially thought the man shot her with a BB gun, and pretended to be dead after the first bullet hit her.
After she heard him walk upstairs, Montero called 911 and informed them of the attack. By the time police arrived on the scene, 62-year-old Robert Lechtanski had killed himself and his wife, Debbie. Local News Outlet WNDU reported on the murder-suicide. Montero, Debbie, and Lechtanski were the only ones shot in the incident. There were two other people in the home who were, thankfully, unharmed in Lechtanski’s attack.
@babyg.888 I feel like 50 #gunviolenceawareness #againstviolence #gunviolenceneedstostop #domesticviolence #banguns #violenceagainstwomen #stopviolenceagainstwomen #gofundme ♬ original sound – ☯︎
Despite the severity of her injuries, Montero said her job wasted no time trying to replace her.
Viewers who saw the post urged the TikToker to seek legal counsel, particularly into a “wrongful termination lawsuit.” Montero responded that she and several co-workers were considering doing so as they had less-than-stellar experiences working for the business.
Other users shared their own anecdotes about being let go from companies for medical reasons.
“I got written up for calling off because I was having a miscarriage,” one viewer shared.
“My son was terminated because he had to call sedgwick to keep his job. He was unconscious,” a second commented.
“I got let go cuz I was pregnant,” another added.
One user claimed that they successfully sued a former employer for firing them while they were on leave.
“Lol I sued my boss for this. I was out on disability,” they wrote. “When I came back they didn’t give me my position back and fired me right away. I won.”
Other users suggested that Montero was not being pushed out. Rather, the company simply needed someone to cover her duties while she was unavailable. Montero responded that she understood this but still felt “blind sided” by seeing the job posting.
According to various legal regulations, companies cannot terminate an employee’s contract while they are on medical leave, nor can they fire a worker if it can be proven that the grounds of their termination were either directly affected by or related to their leave for medical purposes.
The Daily Dot reached out to Montero via email for further comment.
