EEO investigation for discrimination

Has anyone been successful in winning a discrimination investigation against their employer based on mental illness? I am just starting the process and it is so intimidating. It is me against the world or at least that is how it feels. I have a few strong examples that help my case but in things like this it is mostly circumstantial evidence. I know they are going to lie. I am doing a timeline and marking important events. But during this time between depression and ECT my memory is Swiss cheese.

I'm so sorry, Crook32 I imagine it must be very scary for you. Please don't give up. It seems like you're handling all of this pretty well. Just keep doing what you're doing. Try to do your best like you're already doing. That's all you can do. I hope you'll win this one. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I hope you'll get out of it ok. Is your lawyer good? I think that's important. Is there anything we can do to help you? Please let us know. Feel free to PM me anytime. Let me know if I can do something to help you. Wish you good luck! Let us know how it goes. Sending many hugs to you

What are your strong examples?

If you haven't done so already, you should copy-paste important emails into one Word document so that they're all together and you can collect your thoughts better. Then when the time comes, you'll be organized enough that you can point the judge to the actual emails you want him/her to read.

Why would I willingly drop off of projects that was 40-50% of my coverage for about a decade. I worked with him for a decade and we were a great team. I would only do that if the treatment was really bad for me to give that up. Plus his projects were usually the most interesting. His actions never fit his words. He changed when I got back from the hospital. He gave me bad reviews all the sudden but kept me in the most crucial roles on the projects. He would also comment on how hard my stuff was and that he couldn’t do it. So his actions and words were incongruent. He blamed me for everything. Like equipment arriving broken or my laptop dying. Things I couldn’t control.

My psychiatrist recommended using the work IPhone because the depression and ECT messed with my memory. I needed it to document things with notes and pictures and research things. They started rumors that I was playing around on the phone and not working. I wasn’t on the phone anymore than anyone else but they still singled me out and harassed me about it. I was even told that even though I was using it for work I couldn’t use it. So I was being singled out. If it was as bad as they said why did they not just take it away?

While this is ongoing continue to find a new job. Those cases can take years to be looked at properly.

I agree with Blue about how to document things.

I have one of the cases right now. They progress very slowly.

How are you doing, Crook32? I hope you're feeling a bit better. How is the investigation going? I'm so sorry you're gong through all of this. It must be very hard for you. I hope things will get better soon for you and your family. Wish you good luck! Let us know how it goes. I'm so sorry you have to deal with this

I won a work place discrimination case with my last employer. Documenting specific dates of incidences with witnesses, actions you took to resolve the issues and collecting correspondences is important. Also be prepared to tell them what you are out financially with documentation. For me, it was providing a huge list of therapy bills for them to pay me back. Stating you would like money for pain and suffering and then not having therapy bills or something of that nature to prove it, will not cut it. Additionally you have to prove the discrimination is in relation to a mental illness specifically covered by the eeo. Good luck with your case.

Good to know it is possible to win. They copied my computer last night. We have a letter we are going to send asking to settle the case. I haven’t listed my demands yet but I am not really looking for some huge pay out. Mainly I just want to be paid back what I have spent and to be transferred. Maybe a little for pain and suffering. But it is not like I am being unreasonable and asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean a transfer kind of sucks for me because I love my job it is just like 5 people that make it unbearable.

I'm so sorry, Crook32 I hope things will go well for you! I agree that your request doesn't seem unreasonable at all. It is your right to do that, after all. I hope you'll win! I'm so sorry you're going through all of this. It must be very hard for you. Don't worry, it will be over. Let's hope for the best. I hope things will get better soon for you. Wish you good luck! Let us know how it goes. I'm so sorry you have to deal with this

Crook, I definitely agree with Christina that a fresh start somewhere else during/after your battle with your current employer would be something to consider. Could you transfer to another group in your workplace?

My employer was actually really great in that they held my job for almost four years (a period of 10 hospitalizations and 12 IOPs). I won't go into my story, but mine was not like yours in that I didn't feel discriminated against. I did have very uncomfortable relationships at that workplace, though. When I would attempt to return I was super anxious at times. I felt my underbelly exposed.

I agree, document everything you can and your timeline is a really good idea. It may help you remember things you thought you’d forgotten. Best of luck.

This may be strange to hear but the discrimination my last employer exposed me to turned out to be one of the best things for me. I left there and started working for a great company! Sometimes things are meant to be. So please don’t think of this as just a bad experience in life because sometimes these experiences have hidden blessings in them.

It is just I love my job and because after two years I decided to speak up and stop being a punching bag they are now trying to fire me. All because the person I complained about was one of their favorites. Funny thing is he left to join another department so they lost him anyways.

Is this the basis of your EEO complaint?

It is more complicated than that.

Crook32- I will give you a quick rundown of what I went through and steps I took to get it resolved. I was an excellent employee for that company. I won employee of the month several times including the month before I had to go on leave to get treated for bipolar disorder. I come back and within a month they drop my hours from full-time to part-time and within another month they hired somebody to replace the hours they had taken from me. They wrote me up for a non-existing policy. I brought in the district manager he did not remove the write up. All along I was documenting everything. I documented the date who I met with any witnesses that were in the area. Then it gets really creepy. I had found another job to supplement my income and they actually had one of the managers go and watch me at my other place of employment. I found this out because that manager became a friend of mine at my new company ( not the part-time job I had found a new full-time job to leave the company). It was when I found that out that I decided to go after them. It was the straw that broke the camels back. There are other details but I don’t remember them. It happened eight years ago.