I'm sad about this.
No, wait -- I'm happy.
Posted on 05/14/2006 2:45:02 PM PDT by billorites
The state's highest court has ruled that Harvard University had the right to fire a receptionist who was arrested at work for disorderly conduct that stemmed from bipolar disorder.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Friday ruled 5-1 in favor of Harvard in the case of Michael Mammone, who worked at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.
Mammone was arrested in 2002 after disobeying a supervisor he called "evil," then refusing orders to leave the museum, instead forcing university police officers to drag him away.
The court ruled that state anti-discrimination laws do not protect employees who engage in "egregious workplace misconduct" that would have resulted in the firing of any other worker.
Mammone, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1987, said the ruling "kicks workers with mental illness to the curb."
"Five justices who were appointed by Republican governors all came down on the side of defending big employers from lawsuits filed by wronged employees," Mammone, of Waltham, told The Boston Globe.
The decision was criticized by Susan Stefan, a lawyer for the Center for Public Representation, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief for several groups that help the mentally ill.
"There's no indication that (Mammone) was dangerous," Stefan said. "He was certainly very offensive and obstreperous, and I'm sure he feels great shame and remorse. But I think the worst of his offenses could have been avoided if the response of Harvard ... hadn't (been) calling the police."
Harvard spokesman John Longbrake said the university was pleased by the ruling and had no further comment.
Mammone worked at the reception desk in the main lobby of the museum from 1996 to 2003, directing visitors to exhibits, according to the court decision. In the summer of 2002, he had a manic episode marked by paranoia, agitation, hyperactivity, and irrational behavior.
In August, Mammone, who was active in a union of Harvard clerical employees, started a Web site to denounce the university's wages, according to the decision. He soon began distributing fliers about Harvard pay and dancing and clapping to protest songs in the lobby.
In September, Mammone arrived at work wearing a traditional East Indian dress adorned with necklaces, bracelets, and rings, the ruling said. He made loud phone calls at the reception desk to the ACLU and others. When a supervisor asked him to follow her to a private conference room, Mammone refused and said, "Get away from me. You're evil."
Mammone was later repeatedly asked by the administrators and two Harvard police officers to leave the museum, but refused and sat on the floor. The officers eventually handcuffed him and dragged him from the museum.
A disorderly conduct charge was later dismissed and he was found not guilty of trespassing by reason of insanity, Mammone said. He was fired after his disability benefits expired in March 2003.
Mammone told the Globe his manic episode stemmed from an allergic reaction to two anti-anxiety drugs.
He sued, but a Superior Court judge dismissed the complaint and the SJC upheld that decision Friday.
If she was Muslim, would she even have been considered for termination
....replaced by an ugly, morbidly obese lesbian nymphomaniac with Tourette's Syndrome.
He was doing this for a month, before they finally got fed up?
Boy,that's a laugh.If this guy's smart he'll hire himself a lawyer from Harvard Law School who will,in turn, consult one or more psychiatrists from Harvard Medical School and then march into Federal court chanting:
"Americans With Disabilities Act"
By the time he's done,Harvard will beg him to come back...with full back pay....and a new job title that includes a 50% pay raise.
And for the public school grads like me...
obstreperous - marked by unruly or aggressive noisiness
I'm sad about this.
No, wait -- I'm happy.
Calling the ACLU? That is nuts!
"The state's highest court has ruled that Harvard University had the right to fire a receptionist who was arrested at work for disorderly conduct that stemmed from bipolar disorder."
I guess her last name isn't Kennedy.
Sorry -- "his last name..."
Oh, goodness. I've lived this. Bipolar people can be impossible. This is what disability is for.
When you have someone with really bad bipolar, they can range from miserable to dangerous. And they usually don't have a drop of sense. As the emotions kick in, the common sense shuts down in a way that is breathtaking. And they can be mean, mean, mean.
Take it from me, this is something I am an expert at.
Maybe he should move to Rhode Island and run for Congress.
We must stop BIG EMPLOYER...
What an amazingly dense entitled plantiff.
I too, know of this disorder, and yes these people can become violent. Their affect goes out the window.
Which is why I believe Kennedy should resign, since he didn't tell the voters prior to now.
I'm bipolar, but I only go from "crabby" to "nappy".
Fortunate you. I wish you all the best. My husband was bipolar, and unfortunately his case was quite extreme. He was told by his psychiatrist he would absolutely not be approved to ever to back to work.
We once saw a gentleman taking a medication for Tourette's exhibiting Tardive Syndrome.
In my experience in dealing with bi-polar folks, and those with neurological problems, in the workplace over the years, two things I've observed are that virtually everyone is quite employable and can do a good job irrespective of these problems, but not exactly every day, nor on schedule. Management flexibility is needed.
The other observation is that an incredibly high percentage of people are oversensitive to people with these problems and will go out of their way to criticize and sandbag them (frequently doing so as if everyone didn't already see the problems.)
I think common drunks get more respect.
It takes some severe stress to trigger anything more than just a shift of moods in me. No one ever knows (or guesses) unless I tell them, and even then sometimes they still don't believe me.
Now ask my ex-wife and her boyfriend if I'm crazy...well.....LOL.
I've got a buddy that is bipolar, mildly psychotic or something. He's very difficult at times, although I seem to get along with him better than most. He also has delusional thinking where he doesn't seem to interpret a real experience like most everybody else does. I am also convinced he also experiences delusions (unreal experiences) from time to time.
What would be some defining characteristics to look for to distinguish between whether he is bipolar, manic depressive or having psychotic episodes?
Most of the time he's pretty much OK, except he is consistent in the details of his delusional thinking and experiences.
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