Freeper Legal advice needed (Vanity)

[Wombat101]

Freeper needs advice on potential lawsuit...

[Wombat101]

Can anyone tell me if there is a case here?

Let's say a corporation (which shall remain nameless) causes and employee great amounts of mental stress, leading him/her to some sort of mental breakdown. What does the plaintiff have to prove in order to bring the case to a meaningful conclusion in court?

Facts: - Said management of said corporation instituted an unwritten 50-hour work week rule, and required employees to adhere to it by threatening to withhold raises and bonuses from employees. These employees (systems programmers and such) routinely worked 60 or more hours a week, and were being asked for more.

- Management required employees to be on call 24/7/365, equipping them with pagers, and computers/software to enable work from home during non-business hours, and despite having a policy of telecommuting, refused an employee the ability to work from home during normal business hours when a medical condition made it difficult to get to the office.

- When said employee went to his management and explained his medical condition, he was told "To get it fixed or take it elsewhere".

- When management did, in fact, make some sort of accomodation for this employee, it was not to allow him to work from home, but instead, transfer him/her to a different office. The reason behind said transfer, quote: "if you go beserk and kill someone it wouldn't be my problem".

- A manager once told said employee (in front of witnesses) "You'll never amount to much more than you are now".

- A manager once told said employee, while handing over a paycheck "If I were you, I'd save as much of that as I could". Said manager was also drunk at the time.

- Said employee, who lives on an island, was told in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, that if he/she did not get to work, "it would be remembered". Transportation to/from the island was shut down/cut off during the ensuing lockdown in New York.

- Management routinely created a hostile working enviornment by using the threat of witheld raises, optional bonuses, and bad economic conditions that restricted the availability of obtaining work elsewhere to extract more time, effort or acquiescnce from employees.

- When said employee finally snapped, and took a medical leave, company policy seemed oriented towards forcing the employee back to work -- withholding of pay and benefits.

- While awaiting approval for long-term disability, said employee was denied a paycheck per policy, but still expected to make payments towards medical benefits, which subsumed most of the employee's state disability benefit.

- When said employee, during medical leave, asked for an emergency withdrawl of 401(k) funds to cover expenses, he was informed that it would require a stack of paperwork and five (5) weeks to process the claim, which could still be rejected, to sort out.

- Employee attempted to resign two (2) times and resignation was not accepted, beacuse the firm could not recall any employee ever resigning while on medical leave. As a result, the FIRM started the Long-term disability process on the employee's behalf, without his permission, probably for fear of a lawsuit later on (they did not tell me that...).

Any Freeper lawyers out there care to tell me if there's a case here?

[PurVirgo]

ping - not a lawyer, but I'm interested to see what one would have to say

[bcoffey]

Before you know if there's a case, you have to know what you want from it.

As for me, I'd have left after your Fact #1.

[Wombat101]

If it was my lawsuit, I probably wouldn't have hired you anyway. Your first instinct was "What do you want?"...

[Wombat101]

Continuing: that was a ridiculous question because;

1. Justice, if there's any to be had, must be served...
2. That can be constuedd as you beginning to count your fees BEFORE you do any actual work...
3. It was rude...

[IncPen]

In the state in which I live I believe the limit for damages in a hostile workplace suit is $300,000. That may be a federal limit

I was once advised by a very expensive lawyer, when I had a situation not unlike yours, that the best course of action was to leave and forget it


"You may win $300k," he said. "But they'll destroy you before they hand it over"

I took his advice.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Facts: - Said management of said corporation instituted an unwritten 50-hour work week rule, and required employees to adhere to it by threatening to withhold raises and bonuses from employees. These employees (systems programmers and such) routinely worked 60 or more hours a week, and were being asked for more.

- Management required employees to be on call 24/7/365, equipping them with pagers, and computers/software to enable work from home during non-business hours, and despite having a policy of telecommuting, refused an employee the ability to work from home during normal business hours when a medical condition made it difficult to get to the office.

This is SOP in companies today. That is why Unions were formed. As abusive as Unions are, they came into being to counteract ABUSES in the workplace.

Business is out of control. And it doesn't look to improve anytime soon. Both sides of the aisle are bought and paid for by Business interests.

The only solution is to work towards a Third Party to take the control away from the Business cabal.

[RLK]

The employee should have quit, day one. Having said that, Sue. Given a good lawyer, you'll win.

[Peace will be here soon]

Sounds like most programmer work environments. Just making room for the "Blue Card" invasion.

[ZOTnot]

The key to succeeding may be in the Americans with Disabilities Act. (ADA) What was the medical condition? (which can be pursued vigorously?...) Or possibly the federal Medical Family Leave Act.

[Wombat101]

The employee tried and the resignation was refused...

[ErnBatavia]

If it was my lawsuit, I probably wouldn't have hired you anyway.

Me neither...because you sound like a professional victim.

[sirshackleton]

Resignation isn't something left up to the employer, it's left to the employee. Unless you're under some kind of contract (which should stipulate work hours, bonuses, pay, whatever), you're resignation is not something that hinges on an employers acceptance. It's you saying "As of [date], you'll have a position to fill. Have a nice day." An employer can't tell you "No...you have to continue working for me!"

[Cicero]

I'm not a lawyer, but I would GUESS that there's no grounds for a lawsuit here. It might depend on the state where it took place, but in general most judges or juries would probably say, "If you don't like the working conditions, you can always get another job."

It cuts both ways. Bosses who mistreat employees usually lose their best workers and as a result get inferior results from those willing to stay. Or they provoke their workers into joining a union.

Maybe a minority employee or a woman might get somewhere, but I doubt it, without specific proof of discrimination.

[Wombat101]

The CONDITIONS were:

1. Post traumatic stress disorder caused by the 9/11 attacks..
2. Anxiety disorder, same cause...
3. Severe agoraphobia (fear of crowds), same cause...
4. Employee was sickened by an enviornment where 3,000 dead people three blocks away was acceptible because a profit was still made...
5. Employee was further sickened by posted photographs of managers on the building roof, with a smoking hole in the background, celebrating the "triumph of 9/11" (i.e. pulling in a profit). Said managers stood on the roof posing like a winning football team or a pact of big-game hunters.
6. A promotional video that floated aroud claiming "we were the only firm to turn a profit on 9/11, because our disaster recovery plan worked flawlessly". The employee was part of the Disaster Recovery Team, and KNOWS for a fact the plan did not work. It was merely a matter of luck thatthe building did not need to be evacuated.

[Wissa]

The employee tried and the resignation was refused..

I thought slavery was abolished in this country some time ago.

Well, you learn something new every day!

[annyokie]

Get another job and move on with your life.

[Az Joe]

Is the illness covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? If it is, maybe you have a case.

In any event, be prepared to interview a lot of attorneys.

Then, be prepared to answer extremely long, far reaching, under oath, written interrogatories.

Then, be prepared to sit through hours and hours of very long, far reaching, under oath, oral depositions.

Then, be prepared to wait a long time to see the inside of a courtroom.

Then be prepared to have your former coworkers testify for and against you in extremely long court proceedings.

The process itself my be worse than the original employment situation was and may make you feel much worse.

Maybe, at any point in the above process they would settle.

Good luck. It may work.

[Dog Gone]

The only solution is to work towards a Third Party to take the control away from the Business cabal.

I'd recommend that you check out the Communist Party. I think they're in agreement with you.

[bcoffey]

If it was my lawsuit, I probably wouldn't have hired you anyway. Your first instinct was "What do you want?"...

Perhaps I should have worded it, "What do you want to see happen?" I'm disappointed you jumped to the conclusion that this is about $$.

When I give lectures on problem solving, I tell my audience they must always ask two mental questions before embarking:

• How do you know if you're right/correct?
• How do you know when you're done?

If you can't answer those two questions satisfactorily, it will be a waste of time to start.

Oh well.