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(Message started by: rob on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:08am)

Title: Lawyers
Post by rob on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:08am

I was released from my job due to "time lost",and "failure to perform"I have been a cluster headache sufferer for a little over 2 years now.Did I have time away from work,yes lots,did my level of preformance drop,you bet it did,but not because I'm lazy,but due to my headach attacks.Any sufferers out there who are lawyers? I could sure use some help right now.Thanks
I can be contacted be mail at
rflf@machlink.com

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by thomas on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:10am

Good luck man.

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by marlin on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:18am

My advice, before your Med Insurance runs out is get as much documentary evidence as you can from a neuro. I'm reasonable certain you could qualify under Americans W/ Disability act, Family Leave may help... Look, you have a debilitating disorder. Do what you need to do.

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Gator on Dec 7^th, 2004, 9:53pm

I'm sorry to hear of this. CH screws up your life all the way around. I'm not going to tell you not to try. I will tell you that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not protect clusterheads from being fired nor does it require someone to hire a clusterhead. BTDT Below is a link to a case that gives employers the right to can you for missing too much work due to ch.

http://law.emory.edu/caselaw/11ca/mar2003/02-12971.opn.html

Good luck.

Gator

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Sean_C on Dec 7^th, 2004, 10:02pm

Get proper medical attention and medication and get back to work. Staying home isn't gonna make it go away. I know its hard but push through it. We have people here that are Chronic Sufferers with 15 attacks daily and they work and so can you. You don't need a lawyer, you need a job.

Sorry to here your having a rough time of it, hopefully it will pass.

Sean..........................

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Gator on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:03pm

on 12/07/04 at 22:02:45, Sean_C wrote:

Reminds me of someone saying take an aspirin and get back to work. I don't know what the laws or job situation is where you are, but around here they are still pretty f'n bleak.

I lost my job because of the ch. I offered to stay on in a different capacity at a lower pay rate and they refused to keep me. Nothing I could do about it. I then went job hunting. The state employment office wouldn't even talk to me. They said I am "unemployable." No one around here wants to hire someone who will be gone 2 to 3 times a day (or more) for 20 minutes to 3 hours each time. They also don't want the liability of an employee possibly injuring themselves on their premises, even if it is self-inflicted (ie head banging). The ADA doesn't protect clusterheads because there is no "reasonable accomodation" an employer can make that will enable someone with up to 5+ attacks a day (not an official number - just the number of times I get hit a day) to be able to do his job. It is also not "reasonable" to grant huge amounts of time off when the employer could just hire a person capable of being there all day every day.

The only options for me right now are Social Security Disability, which they have already denied once and is under appeal or starting my own business which I in no way have the capital to do. Either way, it sucks. I have never taken a handout of any kind and it kills me now not to be able to work. My shrink reminded me that SSDI was NOT a handout, it is insurance for which I have been paying for years. Now that I am not able to work, I should be able to cash in on it, but the SS administration is making me jump through hoops first. Ba$tards.

Gator

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by marlin on Dec 7^th, 2004, 11:12pm

Gator, I read the case - thanks. I guess it depends on the circumstances. If it's dismissal for a chronic disorder where a lot of work was missed it may make for an uphill struggle. For many episodics a cluster may go into remission for years and only last 6 weeks or so. Also depends on the state in which the case is filed.

I wouldn't say it's a lost cause.

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Charlie on Dec 8^th, 2004, 3:40am

Sorry to learn of this Rob.

Get all the information you can from OUCH and from others here. If you have no other recourse than a lawyer....come to think of it..... if you plan on some kind of disability or whatever, see the lawyer FIRST. It's really the way it's done.

I'm hoping you can convince some others though that you can work as hard or better than anyone with some understanding.

In any case, good luck and let us know how it's going.

Charlie

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Gator on Dec 8^th, 2004, 10:52am

on 12/07/04 at 23:12:11, marlin wrote:

I don't mean to infer that he or anyone else should just resign himself to his fate. I was just trying to give him a realistic idea of what he may be up against. The case I linked to is only one example of many where the courts ruled against clusterheads.

Gator

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Linda_Howell on Dec 8^th, 2004, 11:38am

I can't help you with the legal part of your dilemma

(when you said the word Lawyer, I cringed, dollar bills floated in front of my eyes and I saw you as an old man before you get anything resolved)

But, I'd like to offer a suggestion based on what I did. Being chronic I knew I could not get a job no matter how qualified I might be. So I took out an 8.00 ad in the paper to do housecleaning. Within a year I had a large clinentel and was making a good living. When I would get hit.......I'd go out to my car where the 02 was and after the hit was over I'd go back to cleaning and no one was the wiser. (I never charged by the hour)

Not suggesting you clean houses but going into your business might be a way out for you depending on what you like to do and have a talent for.

Just a suggestion. Linda

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by BarbaraD on Dec 8^th, 2004, 5:26pm

Linda is on to something. Jonny is chronic and he runs his own business (well I might add). I'm chronic and I run my business (fair to midling). You just do what you have to do.

We've all been thru the depression of thinking we were unemployable, but we're not and most of us who are chronic have managed to keep our heads above water -it ain't easy, but it can be done.

Hugs BD

Title: Re: Lawyers
Post by Sean_C on Dec 8^th, 2004, 10:25pm

I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was chronic too. (10 years) no meds and never once considered getting a lawyer. I live with CH, I feel pain just like him. I managed to make the appropriate adjustments in my life, so can he. He needs to find employment that works for him and his condition. Work from home if you have too. Do something that ables you to go away for a short period of time, I could think of a thousand opportunities within his reach. Its the whole lawyer thing that fucks up this thread.

Love to all

Sean.............................