Possible ADA and Age Discrimination

[mrfixit]

Delaware - a state with no employee protection laws.

In the Summer of 2003 I was hired by my organization the to lead our department. The following year, my organization hired my supervisor as Director of Technology, to whom the entire department now reports as does the Data Management group. At 46 years old, I am the oldest member of my team by more than 10 years and about 10 years my supervisor’s senior. Initially, my supervisor frequently sought my counsel, but that ended last year.

Early last year, I spent a few days in a psychiatric day program for treatment for depression induced by work related stress. During that time, I came into work after the day program ended and took an entire day off to lead a vendor meeting for a major project. After being released from the program, my medication was mismanaged by my post care doctor, that resulted in a relapse in mid-summer and I spent several more weeks on FMLA leave in the same day program.

In both cases I was required to file for FMLA leave before going into the hospital. While in the hospital the second time, I received a letter from the head of HR harassing me about paperwork that my caregivers had to file with the district for my FMLA leave. On the date that the letter was sent, my supervisor had not even signed the FMLA request approval and had not filled it out correctly. When I was told of my impending release from the hospital by my doctor, it emailed my supervisor that I would soon be released. Following that I received a rather threatening letter from the Director of HR informing me that I was required to required to get a doctor's release with specific conditions and that I would need to meet with my supervisor to discuss my role with the district. I also received an email stating the same. This had not occurred the first time I was out. It should be noted that even with this time out, I have missed fewer days than any member of the team.

On my return to work, I was called into a meeting with my supervisor, my supervisor and the director of HR. In this meeting, my supervisor told me that he could not have me going out like I had while holding my position as Technical Lead. At this time I was asked if I would accept a demotion and take a pay cut of more than $20,000. I was repeatedly told by them that I needed to have my doctor provide the district with a list of specific tasks that I was capable or incapable of performing, including such things as managing projects, even though I has presented a doctor’s order stating that the only restrictions would be limited hours for 2-3 weeks and repeatedly explaining that there was no way that my doctor could assess my capabilities to perform the complex tasks that they were asking about. I was asked if I was capable of performing my duties and if I could be relied on to not go out again unexpectedly. I assured them several times that the relapse was principally due medical mismanagement by doctor I had been seeing since my first hospitalization and that I was now on a new, effective medication under the care of my new doctor. I also stated that I was confident that with proper medical treatment I would have no trouble performing my job. I left the meeting disgusted and saying, "Don’t make me have to file an ADA claim over this." after it became clear that I was not going to succeed in satisfying them with my assurances (an action that I now seriously regret not taking). I received an email from the HR director at a later date informing he and my supervisor needed to meet with me to insure that my current work position requirements could be met. I have no memory of this meeting happening. Since that time I have missed no time from work for mental health reasons and no more than a few hours for other reasons.

In late March, without prior warning or attempt at discussion, my supervisor left a envelope on my desk with a memo that can only be described as a letter of reprimand concerning events that had occurred in the prior two weeks because I had failed to note a request for a status report in an email sent two weeks prior. The memo, with other documents was placed in my personnel file the prior day. I have since been told by my former supervisor that such a document cannot be entered into my file unless there is a section for employee acknowledgement and response, since without that, there is no way to prove that I had ever received the document. He gave no indications of any problems that week, though many opportunities were available, including meeting for lunch on the day the memo was left on my desk. He had only given praise for my performance up to that time and my performance reports have been glowing. In the last sentence of that memo he informed me for the first time that he was in the process of reorganizing the department and the he would be scheduling a meeting regarding my role within the department. He walked into my office shortly after I read the memo and we had a brief discussion, in which he informed me that I would not be given the Lead Specialist position that had been planned (a demotion), but instead would be put on the same level as the other team members when the new pay scale took effect. He pointed out that while I would not be taking an immediate pay cut, my pay would not increase for several years because my salary exceeded the applicable scale and would be frozen until the scale caught up with my pay. I have since discovered that would not occur if I was put on the new scale at my current level. When I challenged him about the propriety of placing this document in my personnel file and demoting me over this one issue without any prior negative feedback that had a problem with my performance other than this occasion he only referred to the meeting with the HR Director last summer and a project that he had told me repeatedly to forget about. It should be noted that when I brought up a member of the team that has been regularly insubordinate with both him and me both in public and private, as well frequently failing to accomplish tasks as assigned he brushed it off saying that member's pluses outweighed his minuses. I should point out that this individual is the only person of color in the group and the favorite of my supervisor’s boss, who has a well known affirmative action agenda.

I have since discovered that my supervisor has regularly discussed department business with other members of the team of which I was lead while I was not present. I would frequently find out about plans from other members long after they had been discussed with my supervisor. These activities have seemed to have only gotten worse over time as he has moved increasingly from email communications to walking across the hall to “talk with the guys”. My supervisor has encouraged the youngest member of the team to pursue a graduate degree. I he also has encouraged the other member of the team to pursue an Associates degree. He has never said anything to me concerning advancing my education. I have since discovered that he has been working on a putting us on a new pay scale which provides financial reward for receiving a higher degree.

Since my reprimand, he has depreciated my value in front of the other team members. Case in point was the scheduling a planning meeting for opening a new middle school this summer at a time it was in conflict with another appointment I had on my calendar, stating “that he knew I would have to leave early, but they could pick my brains later”. I had to force rescheduling the meeting to later in the day where there were no conflicts with anyone's schedule. Another significant incident was my total exclusion from the process of hiring a new technician for the staff, while both younger members were both on the interview committee. Additionally, in divvying out responsibilities for the summer, I was assigned the lowest prestige/skilled projects, while the youngest member of the team was given the highest prestige assignments as well as responsibility to train the new hire. Two of the projects assigned the youngest member were ones that I had been previously working on.

Speaking of the new hire, there has been apparent impropriety in the handling of that process. When the first and second choice of the interview committee turned down the job offer, my supervisor got the level of the position increased a level so the job could be reoffered to his first choice that had turned down the job because the offered salary was too low. This seriously upset all members of the team and was contradictory with all district planning documents which call for filling two entry-level positions in addition to the two current mid-level positions and the top level position from which I was demoted. The position was not re-offered to the first choice of the interview committee.

Recently, my supervisor announced that the new pay scale was now official and effective as of July 1. He also said that he expects to have a Specialist III position opening in the near future and would be opening that internally. He handed each of us a packet with our job descriptions, the new pay scale and current pay input sheet. There is a special instruction on mine stating Salary Frozen. I’ve made some simple calculations that indicate that my salary will remain frozen for five years and I the cumulative effect of this action is a reduction of my total pay by retirement of $334,643.02. It is my understanding that the younger members of staff will receive significant pay increases from our being put on this new scale. This is especially true for the youngest member of staff.

I have reason to believe that the HR Director has total disregard of discrimination laws, since I am aware of the dismissal of a staff member in another unit on the basis of time missed for medical reasons.What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?

[mlane58]

Cut your post down by 2/3, and get to the point. It's way too long to read.

[pattytx]

Originally Posted by mlane58

Cut your post down by 2/3, and get to the point. It's way too long to read.

Yep. I stopped after the (untrue) statement

Delaware - a state with no employee protection laws.