Please forgive the verbosity of this posting. This is a critical problem in my life, and I didnt want to leave any details out.

I have Attention Deficit Disorder, for which I am taking medication........it helps, but is not a cure-all. I have been fired from two jobs in the last three months for being late to work.
No matter how hard I try, Its not uncommon for me to be late..........it's a part of the disability..........mostly in the morning before my meds really kick in.

The first of the two jobs in question, I did not mention my ADD until it was too late.

The most recent job, I did everything right. I had a pre employment physical, in which I told them I have ADD and what medications I take. My employer knew this, and hired me anyway. (He admitted knowing it). Attendance is very important to this guy..........he made that clear. He is ex Air Force, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I respect the need to be on time, but I simply couldnt pull it off.

I work as a salesperson. One of the benefits to that is flexibility in scheduling. I started the job on January 3rd, 2006.I was scheduled for 9am. I arrived on time. During the course of the day, my immediate supervisor informed me that I would be required to be at work at 8am each day, since this is the time all of the service technicians are in the building, and it would be good for me to interact with them before they go out on their jobs. They help supply my leads, so I need to be on good terms with them. Thats a fine idea, but I was nervous about having to be there at 8 each day. At no time during the interview process (3 interviews) or even in the written job offer did they ever mention these hours.

I was late the next two days! Jan 4th I was late by about two minutes. No one said anything. At all. The next day was their weekly meeting. I arrived at 8:03 just as my supervisor was heading up the steps to start the meeting. No one said anything about my lateness. Now, although I knew timeliness was important to the owner of the company, I was not disciplined in any way for these infractions. As a result of that, it gave me the impression that there was no problem. Not to say I wouldnt try to be on time every day.but rather, I didnt feel any reason to be alarmed.

The company has a very detailed, professionally written employee handbook. On pg 35 of this handbook, it states their disciplinary procedures. 1st offense is to be a verbal warning. 2nd Offense is to be written. 3rd as well. Then 4th = termination.

I was not late again until Tuesday January 10th. I was 7 minutes late. I knew that was a problem, so after the morning rush died down a bit, I went into my supervisors office to talk about it. He then informed me that the owner was pissed, and wanted him to write me up for being late three times.and if it every happened again Id be terminated! I really couldnt believe it. I got no verbal warning. No second warning. I simply cannot operate with that hanging over my head.knowing that one more strike and Im out. Therefore, in response to the write up, I wrote a formal letter requesting accommodations to my arrival time as allowed by the Americans With Disabilities Act. I made this request in writing, and gave it to my supervisor on the afternoon of the Jan 10th, 2006. I printed a copy for the owner as well, but I requested that my supervisor not leave it in his mailbox or laying on his desk, since the owner had left the office for the day already. I didnt want other office staff to see it.

That letter was the first time I mentioned my ADD to them. I did put it on the medical forms, which they did see prior to hiring me.but at no time during the interview process did I mention itnot that it matters. The letter itself didnt actually say ADD, but I did tell my supervisor what my disability was.

This final notice write up I got on the 10th really blindsided me. That all in one final warning write up was not the way the company employee handbook stated these things should be handled. If I had gotten a verbal warning on the 4th, and a written on the 5th..I would have had at least a better understanding of their position. I was so upset by it that I couldnt sleep that night. I was up at least twice an hour, every hour of the night, having some sort of anxiety attacks and nearly throwing up each time. Luckily, I have an iron stomach and didnt. I have never had such attacks before in my life. I suppose it was just the importance of this job, and the possibility of losing it was horrifying. I had my body so worked up that I had diarrhea right before I had to leave for work on Wednesday morning ( Jan 11th, 2006)

Wednesday was the weekly meeting day again. This meeting was to be the only meeting of the month that would be given by the owner of the company. Despite my best efforts, I arrived at 8:02. I started to walk into the conference room, but the owner waved me off..like, a dont bother coming in here type of wave. So I went to my desk and went about my day as best I could.

Later that morning, I was summoned to the owners office, along with my supervisor. I sat down, and the owner says Ive made a decision..Im going to let you go. I asked my supervisor if he showed him the letter..which he had not. So, I am now fighting an uphill battle, since the mans mind was made up before I even entered that room. We discussed the ADA briefly, and my request for accommodations. Basically, he didnt feel that it was reasonable for me to expect him to allow me to be late, when it is the foundation of their type of work..and everyone else has to be.

With that being said, I need to point out two things. Firstly, I am a sales person.a different role then anyone else in the company. If Im late to the office, its really not that big of a deal. Its not like being late to a customers house for an sales appointment. I have an impressive track record from my previous sales job.I had an 81% demonstration rate.the highest in that company. That means, 81% of the addresses they sent me to, I demonstrated the product. I one call closed 51.3% of those. You dont get those types of numbers by being late to your appointments!

Secondly, the ADA clearly allows for this type of accommodation. There is all kinds of language in there that supports it, regardless of whether or not they do it for other employees. There is no way it can be argued that me being late to the office would cause the company undue hardship. It wouldnt literally cost them anything, and it would not truly disrupt anyone elses schedule.

He decided to fire me anyway. He didnt even look at the letter until I was cleaning out my desk. As he walked me to the door, he told he had skimmed the letterand it sounded like I was suing him. The letter said no such thing. It was short, and to the point.simply requesting the accommodation as allowed by the ADA.

The most ridiculous thing about this whole situation is that I was hired on commission only! I was not costing him any labor dollars. I had spent the last full week training on a proprietary computer software program, which I was able to figure out better then anyone else at that company. My supervior has limited experience with computers, and apparently the gentleman they had selling for them previously was not very computer literate. They paid $4000 for this software, and I was the only person that came along able to actually use it!

I really dont understand why he wouldnt work this out. I got along great with both of these guys. My interviews went great. My first two were both two hours long each! I was doing well on my research and training, and everyone around the office was really nice. I dont think I had any problems with anyone, whatsoever.besides being late four times. I still have no hard feelings towards them if they would let me back there. I would love to work for them. It was a tremendous opportunity for me, and one that I needed more then anyone there will ever know.

I have myself in a really bad financial situation right now, and I truly needed this job. It was like a last chance lifeline thrown to a drowning manand he took it away. My ADD caused the demise of my own business, which I started in 1998. I was not diagnosed and treated for ADD until 2004. By that time, it was far too late to save my business. That situation has my credit in ruins, and more debt then I care to speak of. The sales job I had since January of 2005 I voluntarily quit back in November because the travel was just too much. I was only seeing my kids to bed on Sunday nights. It was not working well with family life.

On top of my long term money issues, I had waited a good two or three weeks to get started at this job. Because of that, I have my bills stretched to their limits. The mortgage is two months behind now. Someone else paid for my kids Christmas presents this year. I cancelled my health insurance effective December 31 since this new job had paid benefits. Now, my family has no health insurance. My wife and I both have conditions that require prescriptions and doctors visits, and my youngest son ( I have two) has a breathing condition that gives him a propensity for getting sick. I really need that insurance.

I spoke to the owner a couple days after he let me go. He told me that he knew prior to hiring me that I had ADD and another unrelated disorder. He said he also checked my credit report, and despite all of the above hired me anyway. I thought to myself, thats great but what is the sense in that? He did not discriminate in hiring me, but yet refused to give a simple accommodation so I could remain employed?

I feel he was clearly in the wrong in this situation, and I want it fixed immediately. If I cant get my job reinstated, I will regrettably move on. I will also file a complaint with the EEOC and take this man to court as soon as I am able, and sue him for the absolute maximum the law will allow. I wont do it for the money, nor revenge. Rather, I want him to never do this again, and encourage others not to. I think employers in at will states think they can do just about anything they want to and they are so wrong.

This situation, on top of everything else from the past, has us distraught. My wife actually collapsed the other day from the stress. She was breathing heavily, laying on our living room floor..begging for help. I didnt know what to do! We have no health insurance anymore.ambulance rides cost over $500. I dont even want to know what an emergency room visit would cost. I put the kids upstairs so they were no longer staring at their mother laying on the floor. Yeah, theres a nice long standing childhood memory for my six year old to have I actually removed the phone from upstairs so my 6 year old couldnt call 911 like he has been instructed to do if mommy cant talk. Pathetic. So, then she passes out. At that point, I figured Id take her no matter what, but when I started to pick her up to carry her to the car, she woke up and crawled upstairs. Shes physically ok, but Im not sure any of them will ever forget that scene.

During my phone conversation with my boss the other day, he told me he felt threatened by me. I didnt not get loud, yell, curse, or any such thing. Im not like that. If I did, I dont remember it.but its unlikely. I think it was the mere mention of a LAW that made him fearful. What he doesnt understand, and I neglected to convey to himis that it was actually ME that was threatened. If he could employ a bit of compassion, he could put himself in my shoes and understand how I might have felt. I got no proper warnings, then all of a sudden am told that I am going to lose this job that I love and worked so hard to getif Im late just once more. Isnt that threatening? Wouldnt that be enough to put anyone on the defensive?

What I need to know now is, how strong of a case do I have for a discrimination claim? I feel its pretty much an open and shut case. Its a shame that I was late the very next day after that write up, but they should consider themselves lucky I was there at allafter being up most of the night, on the toilet when I should have been eating breakfast, and not being paid for my training time anyway. I really wanted to attend the owners meeting though. I tried. I made the request for accommodations in writing the day before, so when I didnt make it to the meeting on time, I was upset, but I thought I would be covered. I never in a million years expected this.

I would like him to give me a second chance. Collectively, all 4 of my late arrivals only total up to 15 MINUTES. Looking back on my time spent there, I cant think of a single moment aside from the lateness that would make them unhappy with me in any way. I even asked him if there was anything besides the lateness, and he did not indicate that there was.

Even though all of this went down the way it did, I dont have any hard feelings about it and Ill put it behind me in a heartbeat. ADD is misunderstood by a lot of people, so I understand. I just want a chance to get out there and make some sales for him. He has a great company, very well run, a clean cut image, and I am a perfect fit to represent them. I just need some understanding if Im late every now and then.

Aside from his ignorance of this law, I truly have nothing but respect for the man. I really dont want to be forced to sue him. The timing of this firing could not have been worse, however. The mental anquish this has caused for me, my wife, and both of our extended families is unbelievable. My in-laws are in tears. My father is literally speechless about it. If I dont get it back, or dont get another substantial job immediately, I am going to have to sell my house to avoid foreclosure in Februaryand this is too much for our marriage to bear.it might actually split us up. The damages from this one decision of his are immense. Its too much for me to just brush aside.

Anyone with insight to this matter, I would greatly appreciate your comments and prayers (if you are so inclined). I need both. :confused:

Thank you in advance for your support!

Magicman
(Pennsylvania)

sbnetwork@lawknowledge.org.comcast.net