ptsd What Can I Do

[hellontracks]

I was just fired from my job last Monday. In the letter it stated it was because of my ptsd.

I am a mechanic. I understand my job requires me to be around loud noises. The other day my bosses 28 year old son blew an air horn six inches from my head to see me jump. I stated to never *ucking do it again. Well two days later they fired me. The letter stated that i was violent and a safety concern to other employees.

The thing that gets me is they knew i had ptsd when they hired me. That did what he did to see me jump. Now i am without a job. Is this legal?

[Philip Rogers]

You should be able to draw unemployment. Personally, I'd have a good friend find the kid alone and wail the piss outta him and I'm generally a non-violent person. jmo A lawsuit may depend on the size of the company and whether they are required to follow the Americans w/disabilities act. You could file a discrimination claim and maybe win your job back, and/or a settlement. jmo

pr

Edited August 14, 2013 by Philip Rogers

[Notorious Kelly]

I don't have any advice but I'm sorry you are unemployed.

I wish you well in finding work.

[Berta]

“Is this legal? “ Not if the employer falls under the ADA.

“In the letter it stated it was because of my ptsd. “

Keep that baby, it is GOLDEN. If they come under the ADA.

The emploer's defense will be that you created a 'hostile environment”. That can be overcome with evidence.

Are you in touch with anyone who is still emploed there? You might need witness statements for the air horn situation.

This is dejavu to what a ADA employer tried to do to my husband many years ago.....

Although the ADA officially is 23 old as of this July, it didn't become 'law' until January 1992.

My husband had PTSD and his employer, aware of his 'handicap' (they use that word a lot in place of disability in these types of discrimination cases), was covered by the ADA.

He had filed 17 complaints, since 1988, against a major ADA covered employer in NY prior, under the Vietnam Veterans Rehab Act (1973) with the Department of Labor because the company refused to hire him.Finally they did hire him and gave him a temporary job, with a lay off potential but he would be the first in line for the lay off recall.

He had excellent performance appraisals for the time he did work there, with no problems.

The company recalled one person, after the lay off and it wasn't him.

In much of the research I had done since 1988 for this company I found that they had hired one sole disabled veteran prior to his hire in a period of 20 years.

I know that vet, a highly decorated former Navy Seal with multiple SCs, yet was completely able to do his job for 19 years and 6 months.... when his 20 year retirement loomed they fired him over what I consider a trumped up charge.

Another disabled vet they discriminatated against put an ad in the local newspaper seeking out other disabled vets this company refused to hire, or had fired. He came to my house wioth a tenative lawyer to hlp him. Then he became unwilling to pursue his charges.

I did my hsband's legal stuff for DOL and so ,in January 1992, I filed what was the first ADA case here in NY with the ADA-EEOC.

DOL under the socalled veterans discrimination laws, was useless.

However, under FIA I got the real nitty gritty from them. They mistakenly sent me stuff I should have never gotten.

What I got was Golden too!!!!

A few months later after my husband signed the complaint and I mailed it, the EEOC lawyer called here and told me he had won.The first ADA case and ,as the lawyer told me it had to be the first win here in NY.

I am telling this long story because I know how devastating it can be when an employer, (this one touted their support of veterans all the time) will deliberately take steps to provoke someone with PTSD,knowing that veteran was hired with full closure of their service connected disability.

It has been years since I prepared the complaint and evidence for my husband's case. The format might well have changed by now.

If your employer is covered by EEOC-ADA (they have to have a large visible poster on these laws on their job site if they are) and you feel they discriminated against you, by all means access all the ADA info on the net and file a complaint against them.

I personally feel that this kind of crap will begin to happen a lot to OIF OEF vets, whose numbers have high incidence of PTSD er stats they use on the news, , just like it happened t our Vietnam vets.

These are some of the links that can help you----- how to file a complaint and where to file it:

http://www.ada.gov/fact_on_complaint.htm

http://www.disabilityrightstx.org/files/How-to-File-a-Complaint-Under-the-Americans-with-Disabilities-Act.pdf

I didn't have the internet when I filed my husband's complaint and had to write to the Dept of Justice to get the criteria for complaints over 20- years ago.

His complaint was handled by EEOC ADA here in NY.

Your state web site might well have a different format then these links advise because I don't remember formally filing with the Department of Justice ,in DC in those days but maybe I did.

Oh.... consider applying for TDIU too .. You have evidence that says your SC caused you to become unemployable …....from your employer.

Make copies of that letter you got and put them in a safe place.

You have the right to ask the employer for a copy of their ADA anti-discrimination policy too.

In some cases I would think that would cause an employer to rethink what they did ,to terminate someone.

PR is right..if you succeed they give you the job back,or pay you cash for the lost wages.

http://www.ada.gov/ Main ADA site.

[Berta]

Sorry typo FIA ...I mean FOIA The Freedom of Information Act.

This covers access to government records, such as the DOL ,VA etc etc. We have a template here for one.

FOIA officers can make big mistakes. The VA FOIA officer sent me some stuff that I couldn't beleive I got years ago....it violated the Privacy Rights of about a dozen people,employed by the VA.

In the DOL mistake, they (USDOL) said they were sending a US Marshall from Rochester to get back the stuff they sent me. I called the US Marshalls office in Rochester, because I wanted to go to a yard sale and not have to hang around for him to come. The US Marshalls office told me the DOL never asked for their services. It was BS

The VA however, when I told the what they had inadvertently sent to me, didn't seem to care at all.

FOIA ,in my opinion ,is the best invention since the weed wacker.