|
Liberty - Longtime Liberty middle school librarian Angela Page has filed a federal suit against the Liberty Central School District, alleging disability discrimination. She is seeking $2 million in damages, plus legal fees (recordonline.com).
Fired Liberty librarian files federal lawsuit
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/NEWS/712140385
December 14, 2007
Liberty - Longtime Liberty middle school librarian Angela Page has filed a federal suit against the Liberty Central School District, alleging disability discrimination. She is seeking $2 million in damages, plus legal fees.
The lawsuit comes two days after the district's board of education voted to fire Page for not coming to work at the middle school since June 2004. Page developed multiple chemical sensitivity from the toxic gases released by mold in the middle school library, where she worked for more than a decade.
Since 2004, Page has suggested alternative positions and responsibilities that she could perform for the district. A state arbitrator ruled last month that the school district is "under to legal obligation to create a position or 'assignment'" for Page.
—Michal Lumsden
------------------
www.riverreporter.com
Page files federal lawsuit against Liberty school system
Action comes after firing
By FRITZ MAYER
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
LIBERTY, NY — If Angela Page lived in another state, she would be able to sue in state court to settle her grievances. But in New York State, an employee is not permitted to sue an employer for allowing hazardous conditions to exist in the workplace, even if those conditions render the employee disabled. That's just a small part of the large education Page has received as a person who is now struggling with the illness called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).
On December 11, the board of the Liberty Central School District voted to terminate Page's employment as a librarian with the system, after a state arbitrator ruled in late November that the system could fire her because she had not reported to work since June 2004.
However, she didn't report to work because exposure to the mold in the building had caused her to develop MCS, and returning to the building would have made the situation worse. Any exposure to a variety of substances such as perfumes, fragrance in soaps or clothes that have been dried with static-reducing sheets, cause Page serious harm.
The battle with the school district has been ongoing for more than three years. While Page can't sue in state court, she has been pursuing a claim with New York State Worker's Compensation Board and has been largely successful on that front. The board has repeatedly agreed with her three doctors that she is sick, and the building made her sick. But even if she wins the final appeal in that part of the process, which seems likely, the most she will be compensated is $1,600 a month.
With a health insurance bill that runs $1,200 per month, the worker's compensation payments would not come anywhere near covering her living expenses. Moreover, Page has been cut-off from workman's compensation payments since June of 2006 because of appeals by the school system, and she is feeling a great financial strain.
With that as backdrop, Page's lawyer Michael Sussman filed a lawsuit in federal court on November 12 accusing the school system of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not accommodating Page's condition, and by refusing to take her up on numerous offers to continue to work in another capacity such as a virtual librarian or grant writer, which would have allowed her to do most of her work from home. The school system also refused to attempt to keep any area of the school free of the fragrances and scents that cause Page harm.
The lawsuit further alleges that the school system violated the terms of Page's union contract, which stipulates that a member can't be fired while on worker's compensation. The lawsuit reads, "In terminating plaintiff despite this clear contractual obligation, defendant not only violated its contract with plaintiff's union, of which plaintiff was an intended beneficiary; it also discriminated against her on the basis of her disability."
The suit asks for $2 million in damages. A call to the district superintendent for comment was not returned.
Page is currently undergoing an aggressive regime that involves, among other things breathing pure oxygen for two hours a day. She knows other people who have suffered from the illness, some of whom have recovered, and she is hopeful that she too can recover. But that's not the case for many victims, who can slide into poverty and lose everything, including their homes.
"I've heard that's when it's really hard," said Page. "When you don't have a home, they can't deliver the oxygen."
|
