Wrongful termination in Kansas/ discrimation due to disability

Hi! I was employed at a call center in Kansas for 2.5 years. After a lengthy battle with my employer, I was finally granted a reasonable accommodation which was to join the work at home team. In addition, I was still exercising my rights to intermittent FMLA leave due to a physical limitation. When my 1 year FMLA was up, I had to apply for an extension but Because I didn't meet the hours worked in the past year, I didnt qualify for an FMLA extension, which I discovered in November 2014. That is when I asked for the reasonable accommodation of up to be provided with up to 40 hrs per month unpaid, in the event I would need to take off work due to the physical limitation I have.
I completed the required paperwork that my
Employer requested & I turned it in to my immediate supervisor 12/10/ 2014. I got a response from HR 12/16/2014 stating that the doctor needed to answer all the questions again, even though I said nothing had changed from the previous request from 12/2013, which I complied with, and I submitted the doctors portion 1/12/2015. On 1/14, I got a voicemail from management telling me I needed to bring a hard copy to the office by 5pm that day because the copy I provided them with wasn't legible. Because I didn't have transportation, I sent a better copy via email, immediately and I got another phone call saying he still couldn't read it, which In my opinion was impossible, but to avoid any issues, the next morning I dropped a hard copy off at the office, on 1/15/15. I didn't get any response, but was advised occasionally by my immediate supervisor that HR was still reviewing my reasonable accommodation request. On 2/6/2015, I received an instant message from my supervisor while I was working , stating that I needed to call our department manager after my final break of the day which I did. During this phone call, I was advised that they are declining to provide me with my accommodation request due of the "unpredictability" of the time that I would need to take off. They then offered me a lower paying position which would only require me to work weekends in shorter shifts. I declined because I needed health Insurance which I would lose in the new position & I also told them it wasn't enough pay. At that point I was then notified that they were terminating my employment because I wasn't taking customer calls like I was supposed to and that I was just disconnecting calls without speaking to the customers. I was very clear with him and told him I felt like those were totally fabricated allegations & that I believe I was being fired because of my disability since I ALWAYS had a problem getting them To give me ANY Accommodation. I also requested that they provide me with a letter denying my accommodation request which I never got and I still to date haven't gotten a letter of termination either. I also challenged my employer to let me hear the calls, which essentially fell on deaf ears. I feel like, IF I REALLY was hanging up on customers, which was severe enough of an offense that they fired me, why would they offer me basically a demotion & not terminate employment until after I declined to accept that job? It seems to me that if I behaved in the manner they suggested, they wouldn't want me taking any calls, ever- so they wouldn't offer me any other position that would allow me to interact with customers on the phone. I advised my department manager during that call that I had reported phone issues on several occasions to our help desk, due to no customer response and/or the customer reporting to me that they were
Having issues hearing me, and that I'm sure it's common enough that if he would review other work at home rep Phone calls , he would see that. His response to me was that, "we aren't talking about everyone else, this is about you." As a matter of fact, the dates he said these disconnected calls took place, were the same dates that I had reported downtime due to phone/computer issues to my supervisor just a few
Weeks prior.
Since then, I've lost my health insurance, am not eligible for coverage under COBRA or unemployment because they cite the reason for termination as "gross misconduct". I am SHOCKED because this behavior is something I've never been accused of before and actually, I have had consistent feedback from customers and supervisors alike saying that I am always professional with my customers and a pleasure to deal with. I have NEVER been reprimanded or coached in any way regarding the manner I handle phone calls. In addition, my customer feedback scores were always 100%, which always put me in the top few ranking spots for customer survey results.
I feel like I have been wrongfully terminated, discriminated against and as if that's not enough, my employer has even provided defamatory statements that have caused me to lose my health insurance and I feel like the "gross misconduct" accusation is absolutely going to affect my ability to get another job. What, if any, legal action can be taken against them? Thanks so much for your time!!!

0 answers  |  asked Feb 21, 2015 6:45 PM [EST]  |  applies to Kansas

Answers (0)

No answers were found for this question.

Answer This Question

Sign In to Answer this Question

Related Questions with Answers

Have an Employment Law question?