Basically, on the 23rd, I dislocated my knee. It was bad enough that I needed an ambulance to take me to the hospital and I was put on crutches for a week. I got a doctor's note explaining that I was in the hospital on the 23rd and that I shouldn't be working until the 28th. My job requires you to be on your feet the entire shift, so I really wouldn't have been able to work while on a knee immobilizer and crutches. I gave it to them on the 24th, the day after I was in the hospital. I even went in on crutches and had multiple employees, even a manager, joke that they hoped I wasn't trying to work since I was clearly in no shape to be working.
Today I went in and about half an hour into my shift, they pulled me in the office and told me I was fired. They said the 23rd and the 24th were unexused absences. I tried to argue about the doctors note but they said the note is more of an explanation for my absence and they were still unexcused. I'm devastated. Now I have medical bills to pay off from the ambulance and doctors bills, as well as my general practitioner having me tested for a disorder that's potentially disabling, and I have no way to pay for anything, not even the therapist I'm going to sorely need. I don't know what to do. Are they allowed to do this? I've had absences before, but counting a medical emergency for which I had a note feels wrong, if at least only morally. I have no clue what to do and am freaking out.