Wart a terrible situation! I'll see myself out.

OK, so it wasn't herpes. But how can you get fired for that even if it was?

Typically in food service, you would simply be sent home until the sore has healed and is no longer contagious. Firing would be far too extreme and would be cause for a wrongful termination suit.

Alaska isn't a right-to-work state, so OP could file for unemployment and possibly file a termination suit, or even a grievance if they're part of a union. But there are exceptions, and there's not enough info given here to go into them. We need a follow up.

5, you can spread oral herpes even when you don't have an outbreak. Hence why so many people have it. Wear a mask that is viral protected and no problem.

Alot of people have herpes without even knowing. To be fired for it is compleately unfair.

#34 you would know because it's very obvious and painful when touched or scratched at. I would know. I get cold sores.

No, not necessarily. A lot of people carry the virus in their lymph nodes but don't have any outbreak symptoms. It's not that simple.

Incorrect. I have the virus and have never had an outbreak, which isn't uncommon.

@42: The majority of people have it, but you can be either just a carrier or have a good resistance system. It usually only shows up for people who already have a weakened body due to other issues (could be as simple as a common cold).

Yeah via contact. It isn't airborne. Unless he was rubbing food on his face or kissing people, no one could get it. But like OP said it wasn't even a cold sore it was a burn.

stationariztion

Does your boss not realize that over 50% of the population has oral herpes? As long as you are using gloves and not like spitting in food it should not be a problem, even if it was herpes. He sounds very ignorant.

More than 90% really :)

Actually you can't put herpes in food or drink from spit. It is a skin to skin transmission. It doesn't even live in the blood

The op doesn't specify exactly what job he or she does. If they are a waiter then maybe the boss thinks customers will be put off seeing a waiter with a visible herpes outbreak serving their food to them and there will be a lot of complaints??

@43: Actually, it is transferrable thorugh saliva. "People contract HSV-1 by touching infected saliva, mucous membranes, or skin." Pff, can't even post url's here...

More like 110%. I hate how in each telling the percentage gets higher and higher. The CDC lists around 30% of Americans. I'm 42 and recently got it, but what's FAR worse was that it induced a case of shingles in my nose. Viruses suck.

I'm horribly antisocial and have only kissed one person in over a decade and her blood tests show she doesn't have it. I only could have contracted it by touching something at the local grocery store and touching my face.

That's wrongful termination. If you really want the job back, go speak to a lawyer to pursue this through legal means.

One of those rare situations where you can sue without all those people screaming about everyone being too quick to sue... Yes, I realize America has a lot of at will states

Alaska's an at will state. So trying to sue won't get them very far.

Actually, being an at-will employment state doesn't really mean much. It's a default state which can (and in many states is) be overridden by contracts, covenants, unions and the like. It also doesn't cover Civil Rights issues... So we really need more info on that, before we can judge...

I'm wondering how that even happens. Splashing soup on the face, that is.

If it's a full pot of it and you put the ladle in too fast, the soup can splash pretty easily

edit: I didn't mean to make this a reply. Whoops. Serves me right for not paying attention. Where I used to work the soup warmer bucket thingies were in a really unsafe position, so if you got it wrong and didn't get to a sink in time you could end up with some nasty burns. One of the chefs ended up in hospital because she caught it wrong and five gallons or so of soup ended up going all down her front, about 170, 175F. I got it across the palm of my hand once. AFAIK they still haven't changed it. tl;dr - weaponised soup would be a force to be reckoned with

Panera? Those soup wells are lethal...

All sorts of horrors can happen in the midst of cooking. Oil can pop; soup can spill. This is not to deter people from cooking; I love cooking. Just be careful.

they only mentioned burns on their lips though... which would be a weird spot to have your only soup burns.. I mean.. idk.... wouldn't arms and/or torso and/or cheeks/chin also get hit with the splash?

#50, they might have burns in other places they didn't mention ('cause it's only the herpes impersonator that was relevant to the firing) or protective clothing that saved them. Just because they didn't list them doesn't mean it didn't hit anywhere else. I don't think it's so unlikely as people seem to be implying that you could splash yourself in the face and nowhere else anyway.

do you work as a stamp licker? how can you get fired for that?

Stamp licker....heh.

Was it cream of mushroom?

Is that even remotely relevant to the situation at all

How if it was a fungal infection that "joke" would be "funny"

Totally

Relax, guys; it's a sex joke. You can go back to work nitpicking on others' comments.

the manager is an idiot

I wasn't aware you could fire someone for a medical condition in the US...

You can't