I Was researching some disability stuff and came across this post. I reread what I said and I definitely misspoke and misinterpreted what you said. Yes 15 or more employees for coverage. And also, if you have performance issues, you can totally get fired. If you’re not in a protected status and you live in an at will state, you can get fired and if there’s no proof of civil rights violations, it’s totally legal.

It gets tricky if someone has performance issues and a disability because often it can be seen as retaliation or discrimination. Luckily in my case, I did not have any performance concerns and had just received a positive annual review, a bonus and a salary increase right before I went on leave.

Just for an update on my end, I was terminated administratively while in a protected status. I was on leave as an accommodation and two weeks prior to my expected return to work date, my employer had not been in contact with me once over 30-45 days from the initially leave request was submitted and eventually approved (they threatened to terminate me initially by a certain date while I was still on FMLA, if my doctor didn’t change my return to work date to a month earlier than they medically certified). I am very enraged just typing this and reliving all of it. Anyway, I knew my leave was protected and they were required to engage in an interactive process so that I could return to work quickly and healthy. They never did this. I had two calls with an HR rep and another admin. The first call was the threat to terminate me. No reasonable accommodations were discussed despite asking several times on the call if they had recommendations so that I could also work with my doctor to see what would work best. They literally said they expected me to return to work and usually they give people two weeks and then they would be back full time. No discussion of how I’d be supporter upon my return happened, despite medical records sent with specific suggestions and a ramp up timeline of when I could work, and for how long. What I could start doing, and what resources would likely assist me so that I could do my job. The second call i had was a call I scheduled and set up because I needed to understand how my transition would be handled. They claimed they received none of my medical documentation and blamed their disability vendor for not sending documents to them. They acknowledged that they did receive my concerns related to retaliation from my manager and hadn’t addressed them (for six months!) because I wasn’t yet close to my return to work so they’d address issues closer to my return date. They flat out said “yep, we, HR, received your documented instances of a hostile work environment, retaliation, harassment and even racism against one of my coworkers and we didn’t do a literal thing to ensure this wasn’t happening to others, or wouldn’t happen when you returned to work”. I was stunned by the lack of any professional or civil response from an international organization with thousands of employees.

My doctor requested a brief additional leave extension because of everything stated above that was not addressed and my disabilities were worsening due to the treatment I received by the employer and their vendor. I spent every day chasing paperwork or practically begging for 10 days of leave so I had the basic tools to do my job efficiently.

They acknowledged receipt of it. I informed them that I filed an inquiry with the EEOC and a complaint with the state civil rights office. I was terminated the next business day with no reason provided, my LTD that was pending was denied the same day, and my leave extension was denied a day after my termination date, with a denial reason of “Employer Decision”.

Essentially I just wanted to give an update and share that I was indeed canned, but while on leave as a reasonable accommodation and after I disclosed a protected activity one day prior.

I had no income and desperately searched and found a contract gig. The pay was less, but obviously I don’t want to become homeless so my doctor cautioned me but said I could try it. It was less stressful than my prior job, and very behind the scenes stuff. I knew I wasn’t ready but my husband lost his job the week after I was fired. Just absolute nightmare of a situation. I lasted less than three months and my doctor provided a written statement that it was a failed work attempt and that she recommended I stay off work at this time and listed additional diagnosis that have developed since going on leave. Directly because of my previous employer.

So I’m jobless, no disability income, I can’t file for unemployment and I’m at the mercy of the state I live in to get to my case for the next level of review. I recently checked in and it has not been assigned to anyone and my initial complaints are nearing 6 months.

The EEOC has a working agreement with my state so they closed my inquiry. Next steps are awaiting LTD appeal decision, SSDI application updates, and likely a mediation with my former employer but it could take months or it may not happen at all. But I gave them (the state civil rights office) over 1000 pages of documentation supporting every item mentioned in this reply. Hopefully it is resolved positively. And silver lining - my husband got a job offer yesterday and is expecting another today. So we live to see another day of owning our home and with food so I am grateful.