Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

June 23, 2013

I was fortunate that when working in two Federal programs within a community based organization, there are resources outside of the local nonprofit. I went up the chain of command at the state level. I was advised that I should file with EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). The director of the Department of Housing and Community Development felt it was a clear case of discrimination based on Americans with Disabilities' Act.

Since I was a program director, I had access to documentation of the things I had done, and memos and organization documents. Since this company was one of the biggest employers in a small town community, no lawyer was going to touch it. However, I was able to find an attorney who was also an advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. I also had to do tons of research.

I found an organization nearby that assisted in helping people requesting job accommodation. They also worked with companies in providing a workplace accommodation. It was called JAN or "Job Accommodations Network". It is the leading source of free, expert, and confidential guidance on workplace accommodations and disability employment issues. Jan helps people with disabilities, and enhances their employability and shows employers how to capitalize on the value and talent that people with disabilities add to the workplace. (http://askjan.org/links). The Job Accommodations Network offers free consulting services for individuals with physical or intellectual limitations that affect employment, including a one on one consultation about the job accommodation ideas. Contact Phone number 800-562-7234. The service is offered through the US Dept. of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy.

The Jan counselors were terrific and were able to take my job description and duties and match them up as a request for accommodations for my learning disabilities to my employer. Well it didn't take long after I submitted a formal request that I figured out that they had no intention of complying. I was told that my employer was playing games and intentionally trying to intimidate me. This is when I knew it was time to find a lawyer. When I received my letter from EEOC TO proceed with legal action, I started to pack my bags. Not a good idea to sue your employer while still employed.

In the meantime, I started to look for another job. After all, I had a kid in college and my own parent loans for their education. Plus, I had a 2nd child just starting high school. After a five-week penalty, I got unemployment benefits. As a single parent, this was extremely stressful. Even though I still got child support for one child, their father didn't help at all with college expenses for the other. In addition, I owned a four bedroom house.

I was really positive that I would have a good opportunity to find another job with the experience and skills I now had plus my MBA (Masters Business Administration). I had interviews for some good jobs, but was not selected. I did some substitute teaching and worked part-time at a local department store. I had only worked full-time for about 6 years. Prior to that, I was a stay at home mom for about 10 years. So it did not take long before the bills started to pile up. The one bill I made sure I paid every month on time was the mortgage payment. I continued to wrestle with extreme fatigue and pain. This was given a generic diagnosis of "mixed connective tissue disease" (MCTD). It is actually a rare autoimmune disorder. The disease usually presents symptoms of three different disorders and is called an overlap disease. The primary component is Lupus. At the time I did not have a definitive diagnosis of Lupus. I always thought of mixed connective disease as what you called an autoimmune disease that the doctor really did not know what it was.

As the dollars dwindled the fatigue and pain went up. At one point I was in the hospital intensive care unit with Pericarditis or inflammation of the lining of the heart.