Losing Time...losing Job?

[Kristin's Chaos]

This is my first post in any forum anywhere, so I apologize in advance if I mess up.

I have had PTSD for a really long time, but I came through the worst of it and have been "stable" I thought for almost a year and a half.

I am receiving SSDI, but started back to work through their Ticket To Work program. I was so excited, I found an awesome job for an amazing company. And, dare I say I felt almost "normal". I thought I was doing a great job, got great performance reviews and everything. I was exempt, which I never considered could be a bad thing.

But, my manager called me in last week. He was really angry and he pulled out a calendar from our time card system. Even though I am exempt, it is a secure campus so every employee can be tracked the entire time on campus and every employee is required to swipe out of the gate when leaving.
I have been completely exhausted and in my head I would swear an oath that I am working 12-14 hour days 6-7 days a week. Fits with my work history since I have always been a work-a-holic. But, my manager showed me that since April, I have had some of those 12 hour days, but multiple days a week I have been leaving campus after 4 or 5 hours, and some weeks I haven't gotten close to 40 hours.

I was devastated and just broke down trying to explain that I really didn't know and me squeaky clean by the books, would never defraud the company.

He wasn't hearing any of it and had really decided that after a year of being an outstanding reliable hardworking employee I had just gone bad.

When my PTSD was at it's worst, I was dually diagnosed with DID. I am so scared that it is back, because I have no memory from actually being in my department for the last few months. Meetings, trainings yes, super stressful bully environment, no.

I wrote to him the next day and explained about my PTSD. I told him about the dissociative fugues that had happened to me before. I asked for the benefit of the doubt and to have a chance to payback the hours I had been paid for but not been on campus. I also applied for loa and std.

I am scared because even though he said I would receive a written warning (step 2 of 4 and I have never received one for anything attendance or otherwise). But, since I told him I had applied for std and loa one of my coworkers said he is talking about going right to termination for time card fraud. I can get my medical team to explain that I really didn't know I was losing so much time and leaving work. I can have all of my social security people talk to them and verify it is a legitimate disability. But CA is an at will state, so does that mean they can terminate me even if it was because of a medical disability?

I was never told about my early outs from work, and if I would have been told when it started I would have been able to figure out what was happening and start working on a fix right away. My understanding is an employer has to give a chance for the employee to improve, including a chance to get treatment and come back even if accommodations are necessary to prevent the attendance issues related to a disability.

But, I have so much information in my head, i don't know if any of what I am thinking applies.

Sorry it was so long, I am really scared that I am back in this chaos. Feels like my recovery was a sick joke.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

The key is *reasonable* accommodations. I don't think that there's much of anything that the company can do to accommodate you on the losing time thing. That is, if they terminate you for time card fraud, I don't think you can fall back on your disability in order to keep your job. Yes, companies are required to make accommodations for us under law, but they must be reasonable accommodations. If you're stealing from the company because of your disability, they aren't going to be mandated to accommodate you. The same goes for school accommodations, which I'm very familiar with---I am entitled to reasonable accommodations. Anything beyond that and they don't have to accommodate me, rather, it means I'm not suitable for a classroom environment. The same goes for the job world.

 

[Friday]

Bottom Line Up Front : Can they fire you? Yes. Is it legal for them to do so? Maybe. Is there anything you can do to prevent that? It depends. Was your recovery a sick joke? No.
_____________

As far as your recovery goes? Say you have a 500 mile hike. You've walked 100 miles and have to stop for awhile and take care of some things. This isn't a board game, where you go back to start. You've already travelled 100 miles. That distance you've travelled, the lessons you've been learning, and the strength you've built in your muscles doesn't just vanish because you may need to stop for awhile. Not even if you have to backtrack 5 mikes to pick up some supplies you need for the rest of the trip.

As far as employment? Generally if a state is at-will, & you're not unionized, they can terminate you for any or no reason, at any time. No warnings, no procedures to follow. However, to avoid lawsuits -and save on training new hires when a problem employee can be turned around- most companies have policies in place to show the courts that even though they are not required to by law, they still bent over backwards to try and retain an employee they fired.. And that they've already attempted any remediation the courts would order, so they don't have to take an employee back on to attempt said -failed- remediation, but have the proof that it failed right there.

Back to Work programs make this a little more complicated, as the companies generally receive a tax-break or other subsidy of some kind... So they have to document problems, to prove they aren't just scamming the govt. by taking on -and letting go- of employees for the tax break.

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) makes things even more complicated... Especially if you did not disclose your disabled status at time of hire, causing your company to be unknowingly breaking the law that backdating previous problems as being part of your disability. If you did not disclose, and are now trying to rely upon it, they may well want to terminate you quickly so that their legal stance is that they were unaware of your status, and therefore totally within their rights to terminate... Before you can present them with documentation. Or they may stay their hand because of the implied threat you levied at them (unintentionally it seems) of sicking the ADA legal team on them unless they follow rules they're not bound to, at present... If they believe you that you are covered under the ADA. If you did disclose? Then it gets complicated in another direction, as they are only required reasonable accommodation, and may well argue that the accommodations needed are either unreasonable, or at loggerheads with the specific job you occupy.

My strong recommendation, if you wish to keep your job, is to speak with an ADA Advocate &/ or your Program Advocate, and ascertain exactly what your rights & responsibilities are in your exact circumstance.

 

[Kristin's Chaos]

Thank you,
I was't trying to threaten anybody at the company for any reason intentionally or otherwise. I didn't realize that was what I had done.
I really love this company and the potential for development and success they offer. It gives me hope to picture retiring in 25 years as a member of senior leadership. I also know I can do a really great job for them.

The only reason I mentioned the PTSD, was because I was desperate and hoping that somebody who has seen what a great job I can do and somebody who believes (or believed before the calendar issue) would consider it and give me the benefit of the doubt and a chance to fix this, without deciding to terminate me.

I am lost. The downward spiral finding out about my losing time has triggered seems to have no bottom.

But, something I figured out with my new "Intensive Outpatient Program" therapist, is that right from the very beginning a year ago, there was one other supervisor who was an evil bully, who started tearing me down and making me feel hopeless and helpless and in danger the very first day I took over my shift. He systematically tore me down, humiliated me and made me feel like trash every single day in front of all of my staff and his staff for months. I left in tears every day, thinking that it would be easier to drive off the mountain road than to have to come back and see him the next day. I got to where I was scared and dreading and all teary before I even left the house every day, and then I was so on guard, I couldn't focus and threw up about an hour before the bully was scheduled to be there. The worst part, was that since I was new I didn't want to make any waves with HR and I thought maybe my PTSD mind was blowing it out of proportion. I did repeatedly ask my manager for help, but he never did anything and actually replied "I'm sorry you are having trouble with #$%*'s communication style" and all of my staff told me that the bully had done it before and that I was going to have to build a thicker skin and learn to be an asshole if I wanted to "survive" in that department (their words).

Anyway, my new therapist and I sat down and looked at the hours I was missing and noticed something right away. Whenever my job required me to be outside the department, I had no issues, never left before 8 hours and often times stayed longer than 10 hours and even came in on extra days for projects and trainings/meetings/boot camps/leadership retreats, collaborations in other departments. The only times I ever left early, were when I was required to be in my own department with the bully, and I left after my manager and the other supervisors left (the bully was on good behavior recently with other management team members around).

My department is the trigger! It is unsafe because of the bully and even though the threat isn't physical, it is bad enough for my body to take me out of the situation for my own protection. My body is amazing.

Good to know, explains so much, but what now? I can't be a processing supervisor if I am not in the processing department.Anybody with experience have any ideas about accommodations that can help or that I can request and try? (there isn't a shift available that doesn't cross-over with the bully)