ptsd Any Advice - Ptsd Claim Sent In 10 Months Ago And Work

[usmcgirl]

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Edited August 29, 2011 by usmcgirl

[john999]

Do you belong to a union? When you mention ADA to your employer the little wheels in their heads start to turn. You must be very sure that if you are fired it is for no other reason than the facts of your disability. That means to the best of your ability be the perfect employee. No lateness, undocumented absences, long breaks etc. The ADA says that to be covered by that law you must be able to do the main functions of your job with or without accommodation. Also, if your employer takes action against you for filing an EEOC complaint that is retaliation. I won an EEOC complaint against my employer, the USPS, for retaliation. I also lost one because the administrative judge did not think bipolar disorder constituted a disability under the act. When I was fired for misconduct due to bad drug reactions to bipolar and pain meds I filed for workers compensation. They were not expecting that and I won my claim. There are many ways to skin a cat.

[usmcgirl]

no unfortunately we don't have unions in my state. Ironically as my symptoms worsened and deteriorated- so did my job performance. all of the write ups were for little things like forgetting to email a weekly report, not "leading from the front" for a higher up's visit. forgetting to do normal daily tasks etc. they even told me that they don't feel safe with me around that they need to be able to feel that they can trust me...that i am not going to have a panic attack or black out or freak out on someone. then they offered me 2 weeks of severence and told me to take some time to think it over. that's when my doc put me on the med leave.

another thing is what do you think is going to happen with my claim to the VA?

Do you belong to a union? When you mention ADA to your employer the little wheels in their heads start to turn. You must be very sure that if you are fired it is for no other reason than the facts of your disability. That means to the best of your ability be the perfect employee. No lateness, undocumented absences, long breaks etc. The ADA says that to be covered by that law you must be able to do the main functions of your job with or without accommodation. Also, if your employer takes action against you for filing an EEOC complaint that is retaliation. I won an EEOC complaint against my employer, the USPS, for retaliation. I also lost one because the administrative judge did not think bipolar disorder constituted a disability under the act. When I was fired for misconduct due to bad drug reactions to bipolar and pain meds I filed for workers compensation. They were not expecting that and I won my claim. There are many ways to skin a cat.

[11cvolley]

Your employer can't say you can't do the essential job functions unless they have already gave you reasonable accommodations. On the same note if you have a history of minor infractions it would still look very bad for your employer to fire you over them after you have made a formal complaint to your HR office. In these cases it isn't solely who is wright, but also who seems to be morally right.

The things you mentioned that you forget or are lacking in right now doesn't seem to indicate you couldn't do the essentials. Them offering two weeks severance pay is a sign they don't a valid, legal reason to fire you. Don't ever think that you must be lucky to have a kind heart employer. They aren't there for you. They're going to take the easiest, cheapest route to get you out of there.

[usmcgirl]

i totally agree with you on that on. that is the gut reaction that i was getting as soon as i heard the words "severance pay" come out of thier mouth. in the last 4 years that i have worked there i have never been written up until my symptoms got worse this past year. that's when we got a new boss and they let the write ups fly like tracers down range. worst part is i screwed up and confided in my boss the reason for my PTSD and panic attacks, told about the rape and my self inflicted wounds on my wrist and that's what got this whole ball rolling.

Your employer can't say you can't do the essential job functions unless they have already gave you reasonable accommodations. On the same note if you have a history of minor infractions it would still look very bad for your employer to fire you over them after you have made a formal complaint to your HR office. In these cases it isn't solely who is wright, but also who seems to be morally right.

The things you mentioned that you forget or are lacking in right now doesn't seem to indicate you couldn't do the essentials. Them offering two weeks severance pay is a sign they don't a valid, legal reason to fire you. Don't ever think that you must be lucky to have a kind heart employer. They aren't there for you. They're going to take the easiest, cheapest route to get you out of there.

[Berta]

Others gave GREAT advice here!

My husband won the first ADA EEOC case in NY.We filed it the day the ADA became law.

For Discrimination in a job recall due to his service connected disability.

[11cvolley]

http://www.mediate.com/articles/krivis8.cfm

^ This is how I handled my mediation and it seems to be quite effective. Forgot to mention this but I found it extremely helpful to research as if you are the employer being accused of discrimination. As my favorite book by Sun Tzu, "Know thy enemy."