We Understand

By Erin Tucker

Kelly has a friend, who for purposes of confidentiality we'll call Emily, who underwent a necessary medical intervention that left her temporarily disabled. She could still work in her position, which had always been remote, where she developed IT training courses, but for a few months, she needed extra time to complete tasks while her brain healed. Instead, she was reprimanded and written up by her supervisor. As time went on, Emily couldn't take the harassment and stress and resigned. She had been driven from her job.

Many people, including Emily's daughter who is an attorney, urged her to sue for compensation on grounds of discriminatory treatment of a disabled person, but in spite of being advised by many that she had a very strong case, Emily couldn't face reliving the emotional trauma she had suffered on the job by talking about it and giving depositions.

Recently, someone Emily worked with at the same company filed suit. Although not related to lack of disability accommodation, the suit cites the same supervisor who had drummed Emily out of her job.

Emily is thankful that her workmate has the courage to move forward with a lawsuit. Both Emily and her coworker hope that this particular supervisor will be held accountable and prevent future employees from having to suffer what they endured.

Although sometimes a supervisor or other person in authority in a workplace will single out one employee, usually there's a pattern of abuse. It's how they treat everyone under them. In other words, it's not you.

Toxic workplaces can make you feel crazy and cause you to start doubting your own eyes, ears, reason and sanity. It's important for you to know that — and trust yourself.

The other important thing to know is that if you've been unjustly wronged or discriminated against on the job, you won't be alone if you want to seek compensatory damages. We'll be with you every step of the way. It's what we do every day, so we know what to expect and how to handle anything that arises.

Call us if you need us.

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