DrLoveGun was NOT fired. They want his keys for the manager-in-training. They apologized profusely for the poor wording, and for suggesting, even by accident, that he was fired. His boss reiterated that the company was very interested in finding an accomendation in the future.*
*But I wouldn’t hold my breath. This is the same guy who wanted DLG to ignore his dr.'s orders and be a “team player.”
Give my best to him. I was whacked out of my mind with Bipolar I disorder for 4 months less than 2 years ago. I am genuinely lucky that I didn’t end up in divorce, prison, or death. They were all close calls and it scared my family to tears. I left a path of destruction in my wake in all areas. This was waaayyy out of character for me. I was a smoldering model of subtle disfunction for several years before that even though I struggled to hold it all together. I had job troubles too even for things that I would have been excellent at otherwise. I think that is inevitable with this disorder.
Today, specialists have found me an easy, maintainable treatment that should work for life with some tweaks. It took some time but it has worked for for 18 months now. I have had four family members cry after they saw me before and after.
Tell him to continue to seek the best care and always strive for improvements. A treatment that just lets you “get by” isn’t the goal. Psychiatrists have always told me that Bipolar disorder is the best major mental disorder to work with because it has a good chance of permanent remission as long as both the doctors and patient are committed to it. I went through maybe 10 combinations of treatments before I found the effective one.
You can give him whatever wishes you’d like yourself, you know. 
He’s currently playing on the floor with our son. He’s pretty lucky- once on meds he had almost no side effects and we ‘bingoed’ on the correct med the first time. He had to add an antidepressant to the mix a bit later, but otherwise it’s been pretty easy. He has a good team too.
IMHO, though, he does need to see a dermatologist or infectious disease person too, though. DLG has had a constant subcutaneous staph infection for several years now. He takes hard-core antibiotics daily to control it, but it doesn’t actually go away. While I have no hard evidence to back me up, my suspicion is that a serious constant infection involving quite a bit of his skin and sometimes in his blood could contribute to brain instability/mood issues/etc. We already have been told the mono infection + high fever he had the week before he was hospitalized probably made things worse as well. To my mind, a chronic infection may have a similar effect. In any case, I don’t think good treatment (even if it has to be IV or something) could hurt here.
Is my company really this dumb?
Maybe. I just want to point out that some companies allow absurd levels of bureaucracy to hamstring their operations, and the result is astonishing stupidity. It may be the case that the HR Director honestly thought you’d be able to work in two restraunts, but when he tried to arrange it he found some obscure company rule against it. Then he honestly thought he could get you a part-time position, but that was also blocked. Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity.
Of course you know more about the situation than I do. I may be wrong; I’m only saying that this is a possibility.
Glad to hear it. The ADA is such a slippery piece of legislation. They have to accomodate a disability…but only if you actively engage in trying to help them determine what accomodation will work…and only if the accomodation allows you to still perform the essential functions of your position. They may try to claim that closing is an essential function of your position. Also, I have had many, many clients who thought that they had a wrongful termination lawsuit, only to find out that disclosure of a disability doesn’t protect you one whit if they were already about to fire you for breaking rules or not performing up to standards. Also, that employers do NOT have to tolerate behavior from an employee with a disability that they wouldn’t tolerate from one who is not disabled. And if the company has fewer than a certain number of employees (depending on what state you are in), they don’t have to do jack about ADA compliance.
Of course, I’m glad that we have the ADA. It’s just not the cure-all people sometimes think it is. And of course I am in no way saying that you were behaving badly or trying to get away with anything; just the opposite.
Your employer should also remember that, not only are individuals with disabilities capable employees, but they are also customers. It would be a shame if they did treat you unfairly or let you go and you told everyone you know (including the SDMB) that Company X sucks with regard to individuals with disabilities. They could lose a pretty significant customer base that way.
[slight hijack]Happy Birthday (almost) inkleberry!![/slight hijack]
There is no doubt in my mind that there is an astounding level of stupidity involved here. If they ask me one more time to either get my Dr. to change his orders, ask me to violate his orders, or make offers they can’t back up, I am going to start smacking and I may never stop.
I strongly suspect stupidity over malice throughout this scenario. People that get hired for management are nearly always hired and trained to be administrators and they rarely have a clue (and almost never get training) in genuine leadership or management. A few of them have some native skills to manage, but most are at a loss to figure out a way to address a novel situation.
That said, I will make a minor defense of those in the company who were frightened by the idea of paying out of two cost or profit centers. Payroll is a bitch and most companies either farm it out to ADP or one of their junior competitors or buy off-the-shelf software from G.E.A.C. (major companies) or Peachtree (small outfits). (And if they are dumb enough to be using SAP, it would take a direct Act of God to make any change to any aspect of the payroll.) The payrolls are set up based on reporting to the general ledger and it is generally assumed that any employee will report to only one cost or profit center, so their identification codes often are based on the loction where they work. I know that in G.E.A.C.'s older Enterprise software, it would have been physiclly impossible to pay the employee out of two profit centers unless the employee was entered as two separate individuals. (This may or may not still be true, of course. Payroll software was long ago modified to handle people who transferred from one departent to another, but that is not the same thing as being paid out of two centers simultaneously.)
This is not to say that it would be impossible to work out of two outlets; it is to note that the need to either change software or do something “drastic,” such as cancelling different W-2s and replacing them with a single manually created document, would generally be extremely frightening to the typical administrator both in the store and in HR.
All of which would make perfect sense if:
a) managers-in-training (including DLG back in the day) didn’t routinely work at multiple locations
b) DLG’s boss works multiple stores
c) They weren’t covering DLG’s shifts using “guest managers” from other area stores.
But, hey, let’s not rock the boat- DLG is getting paid to be a full-time stay-at-home Dada, with benefits & bonuses for at least 3 months. I’m happy if they are…
IANAL
This is not legal advice
Consult with an attorney in your state
Member FDIC
If rash develops, discontinue use
but I did have to study a little bit about the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) for my master’s in special ed. First of all, your employer is only required to provide reasonable accomodations. Not having worked in the restaurant field, I don’t know what is reasonable is but I suspect that by making these offers that they could not follow through on, they are setting up a case to say that there are no “reasonable” accomodations available, therefore they can legally terminate you.
I suspect that, but then they’d have to explain why another manager has a PT schedule and other managers (including DLG at times) can float between stores regularly.
Should it happen though, we will consult a lawyer.
Although I must say a similar thing happened to me. I was injured on the job, liability was not an issue- the company admitted from day 1 that all injuries were directly resulting from workspace and that the workspace in question was subpar. To have me return to work, they simply needed to replace the faulty equipment with proper equipment, a modification that would have cost $149. They chose not to, insisting if they did this for me then they would have to do so for others, it was an excessive expense, blah blah blah. They kept me on disability for an entire fucking year, although I wanted to work and was able to do so, provided I was not subject to injurious conditions.
Long story short- their myopic decision to try and bore me into quitting or capitulate and work in hazardous conditions or have a doctor certify said conditions as safe instead of repairing the problem meant OSHA came in and leveyed $40,000 in fines. I also received a 5 figure settlement for the permanent damage I sustained, and they were subsequently sued by multiple other employees who also were injured by the same workspace after I was. Oh, and they had to then upgrade all workspaces in the entire company.
It’s profoundly stupid, but not an uncommon gamble, as far as I have seen. Nearly halving someone’s income while also preventing them from working in your place or somewhere else while on leave tends to make the employee depressed and break their will. Then they come back, needing the money badly, and drop their request for accomendation, instead of advocating for themselves and getting a lawyer.
Well, since their payroll can clearly handle it, what utterly lame excuse did they offer to claim that it was not possible?
(The boss might be at a level higher than cost/profit center and come out of a separate budget–stupidvisors generally are above the cost/profit center level–but points a and c make hash of their objection.)
I think it was less of a concern how to pay me my salary, and more of a concern how to figure out bonuses. Of course they can figure out bonuses if I’m on medical leave @60% and they can figure out bonuses if I were to work part time at whatever percentage that works out to be. So I assumed that splitting between two stores would be like doing two seperate part time bonuses.
As of now, they are waiting for my dr to change his mind, which isn’t going to happen in this lifetime. So I’m basically on med leave until the benefits run out, and then I’m going to file unemployment. Since the accomodations that I’ve asked for are reasonable and would not cause undo hardship on a company with over 1500 locations nationally and 15 locations within 1/2 hour of me. We shall see.
That sucks. Do they have a head office / administration office nearby? Perhaps you could work a regular 9-5 job there?
There’s a regional office, but there are no positions there. The main office is in Texas, I’m not going there.
Here is some much overdue follow up. They didn’t get the required form to me in time, and then sent me a follow up form which I got 8 days after they mailed it. I was placed on unpaid leave 12 days prior to this second form being sent to me. I had 5 days to get it back to them, but I got it 8 days after it was sent. You see where this is going. My dr. didn’t say on my form that I needed to be on a leave from work, he just said that I needed the above mentioned accomodations to be met so I could return to work. The poor woman working at the companies leave of absence desk knows none of this. She just thinks I didn’t get the form in and I don’t get paid.
Now she is very upset that the regional HR director told me to go on leave instead of finding a way to make the needed accomodations, especially since he offered me some options that I agreed to, only to have him say no to them. I get the impression from talking to her that she realizes that someone has made a big mistake, and it isn’t me. I think it may be time to talk to a lawyer that specializes in this sort of thing.
They’re hosing you. This is enemy action. Get a lawyer. Now.
And my wishes for the best of luck to you in all things. [thumbs up]
The good news: I am not a lawyer.
The bad news: I am not a lawyer.
Please, take this advice with a grain of salt, and seek legal advice in your town.
My suggestion is obvious. See a lawyer. However, don’t hold out much hope. I don’t know who you work for, but the bigger the company, the bigger the pockets. I hate to rain on your parade, but the company is firing you. They don’t want to deal with your health issues, but they’ll never say it. They’ve also more than likely have had discussions about this with the legal department. They are getting their ducks in a row. They will be expecting a suit.
With that said, it doesn’t mean you can’t win. But there are some potential obstacles.
Are you still technically employed? Then what I would suggest is speak to your doctor PRONTO about putting you on short term disability. That buys you about 6 months of full time pay with benefits. Then, if your condition requires it, go on LTD. You will get about 50% of your salary (YMMV), but you will get to keep your benefits. Right now, your health is the most important thing. Your financial footing is important too. Take care of yourself.
Also, one of the biggest mistakes people make is being honest with an HR department. HR departments, contrary to popular belief, are not there to help the average employee. They are there to keep the ship sailing as smoothly as possible, so if you are disabled, unfortunately, you are rocking the boat. Not your fault, but hey, business is business. Someone’s budget will have to carry you and the fact is, no one wants the debt. So they will look for a way to let you go, and do it in the best way they can without putting themselves in line for a lawsuit.
If you are able to get disability, then you will NOT be able to sue. At least until you are no longer employed. But if you are receiving disability, you can’t sue for wrongful termination. If you feel you are wrongfully terminated, you’ll have to prove it, and the company is putting a case together as I type this to cover their asses. Oh, and while you are on disability, you can lose your job. It can be “eliminated”, or you will be “restructured” out of a position. “Oh well,” they say. “You would have lost your job if you were employed, so you are just a victim of circumstance!”
If for some reason you end up looking for an attorney, do your research. And remember, lawyers are motivated by money. If you are willing to give them a third of your settlement, they are much more likely to bust their ass on your case than if you are just paying someone to send a few form letters. The company will ignore them, or stall and delay, costing you money and attempting to bleed you dry. It’s best to get an attorney financially involved. And if an attorney IS willing to take your case, it will give you an idea of how sound a case you may have. Attorneys won’t take your case if it’s a dead end. They don’t like working for free. It sucks, but unless you have really deep pockets, don’t go the retainer and pay-as-you-go method. The company has staff attorneys. You do not. It gets expensive very quickly.
Your company may indeed be dumb. But you are talking about the bozos in HR, not the attorneys.
Sincerely, I wish you the best of luck. It sucks to acknowledge a real problem and be pushed out anyway. HR loves to throw around the EEOC crap and we love our employees, but hey, not if it’s going to cost them money!
oh, and before I get slammed by the attorneys on this board with my generalization of “lawyers are motivated by money”, I certainly don’t mean all of you. It was a generalization. And in these kinds of cases, where large dollars may be at stake, I’ve seen both sides. An attorney working for a percentage of the fees busted his ass. An attorney working for hourly payment for a client did the minimal work and went through the motions. He pushed, but not too hard.
I shouldn’t have impuned all lawyers with the blanket statement. Sorry in advance of the avalance of protest. There are honest, hard-working lawyers. And please email me with the name and address of these fine people so I can know them too! 
So they’ve decided to play a rousing game of Stupid-ball. Its where one mistake leads to several others from different players. I hate this game. Only ended by attorneys, and I hate attorneys. No offence to any Doper attorneys.
Anyway, they’ve decided that I don’t qualify for short-term disability since they agreed to make the accomodation set by my dr. in November and because my dr. set a time limit of “indefinate” on when I could resume normal duties. This is coming from the leave of absence people at corporate. She is being told that they offered to make the accomodations for the month of December as well, they didn’t, and I opted to take the suggestion of a leave.
The even better part is that my area director is going to call me in the next day or so to determine the future of my employment with this company. Does that mean they’re firing me for getting sick? I think it does.
So they want me to leave, one way or another, they’re now lying to the disability dept. of their own company, and I have to find a lawyer. Oh Joy!