Posted by pava on June 13, 2002 at 10:52:43:

In Reply to: Re: Apnea attutude posted by PamC on June 13, 2002 at 10:11:53:

I went through problems at work, and being so tired in the morning I could hardly function. I couldn't be happy when things were going nasty at work. I didn't know at that time that I had attention deficit disorder and sleep apnea.

I had polio and had told my boss about that. I said that I had more difficulty doing tasks like collating (putting documents together in order and stapling them). I was slower a that task and some others.

The real reason I was let go was department politics. I had known one of the profs before working in that department. He had bought a parakeet baby from me. The former administrative assistant had told him about my birds and connected us up.

Well in my interview I had mentioned that I did know one professor in the department, but no one else on the faculty. I didn't know that the chairman, and three other male profs hated the prof I was acquainted with. One came right out and told me that they (these men) had been bad boys, and until this past chairperson they weren't even allowed to choose their own chairperson.

My boss seldom even came into the office. I had to keep things running, fight him tooth and nail to come in and sign forms, and kept having to remind him of deadlines. The dean of Arts & Sciences (his boss) was a friend of mine, and I had good rapport with him, and this was threatening to the chair. So I was let go at the end of my probation. He preferred students and younger women, and I was discounted, and treated rudely. Especially after he found out I was 55 last year. Things went downhill from there.

Now to the purpose of my posting!!! I did file a complaint and EEOP (after me spending $1500 on a lawyer) and plus some, decided there were no grounds for my complaint, and that I had not made them aware of any disabilities. Well, I had asked HR for forms to fill out to declare one before I took this new position, and I was told there was no form. My lawyer wanted me to ask for a hearing, and wanted more money upfront. Being unemployed, I could not do that. And my psychologist said that it was best to get on with life, because I had suffered many years from working at that university and had been treated shabbily, and even had to work a whole year with a verbally and emotionally abusive coworker, whom they refused to reprimand. They had told us both to leave that department, and find new jobs on campus or elsewhere. The coworker was allowed to be verbally abusive to me for 20 minutes straight in front of the HR director and my boss and no one ordered her to stop. It went on from 1995 to 2000 with other bad things in the dept.

So I would ask you to consider first of all how were your really treated by your place of employment. Were there reasons that your anger, and outbursts, etc., were triggered off. Did situations there aggravate a sleep disorder by causing depression, feelings of helplessness, and by not being appreciated or heard.

Remember that if there were things like that going on, and HR is against you, and the whole lot, that you will be subjected to terrible things said about you to make you look as bad as possible if you file a claim and have a hearing.

Is it worth it to you? For me, I need to get on with life, and people have validated my perceptions of what went on, and that all that happened was uncalled for. I have chosen to put that behind me, and try to find out about my apnea, and ADHD and asthma and how to get them under better control. They won't go away, and I will have to live with them.

But finding a workplace that doesn't add so much stress is very important. I need a happy, considerate place to work, where I am appreciated, where I can grow and develop and can use these new skills without them being taken for granted.

I trust there will be such a job out there for me.

Pava

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