Re: Time for help

[Guest guest]

dear bill , i sent an e-mail to lynn.hopefully many others will also,i

suggested that perhaps i needed to check my portfolioif one childs possible

medical bills could overwhelm them. good luck ! i know how it feels to lose a

job ,especially when you love it. the hurt goes very deep. my prayers go with

you and your family.

Stage One <deallyn@...> wrote:

Hello everyone.

Well, I've given it almost 2 weeks and now I don't even get any response

from Lynn Felgenhauer in HR. I would assume that I've been given the

runaround.

For those who don't know, let me tell you what has happened (for those who

already know, please excuse the repeat of events).

As some of you know my wife and I had our daughter, on 9/11. She is

doing very well. She has Down Syndrome and we found out during my wife's 4th

month of pregnancy. We went though alot of heartbreak at the news but she is

the light of our lives!!!!!

The company I work(ed) for, Earthlink (Yes, the large internet service

provider many of you use and who recently merged with Sprint/Mindspring)

allows a period of paid parental leave along with a period of non-paid

leave. I had put in the request for what I

understood was a 30 day parental leave. I have 2 documents signed by my

immediate supervisor Ben Blancaflor that state " 30 day leave with option of

additional 30 day leave " . I typed these documents up per what I was told by

my human resources dept (specifically by Lynn Felgenhauer). I hand delivered

signed copies of this document to my human resources dept. A later document

signed by the same supervisor on 8/30 list my initial leave from 9/12-10/12.

After my daughter was born there was a concern about leukemia because she

had a very low blood platelet level. We were taking her to the City Of Hope

medical center for all kinds of test and playing the waiting game. Because

of this, I decided to take the additional 30 day non-paid leave. I notified

my supervisor and this was no problem. All the key people at my job know

about the whole situation.

Well, I returned to work on 11/8 only to be told my services were

terminated. No one would even sit down and explain it all to me. They took

my badge and phone headset and had a security guard escort me from the

premises like I was a thief or something. It was very humiliating. They

didn't even take me into a private area to do this! I was only told I was

supposed to be back on 10/28 and not 11/8. This is FALSE and I did come back

exactly when I was supposed to. The company took 3 days away from my leave

because of needed missed time to take care of my wife. That left 57 of the

60 days and my leave started on 9/12. Count it yourselves and you will come

up with a return date of 11/8.

I found out several days later after contacting Lynn Felgenhauer in Human

Resources and also the same person who helped me on this from the beginning

that the issue is that it is supposed to be 4 weeks with an additional 4

weeks, not 30 days + 30 days, even though 2 of the documents signed support

the 30 day leave. So my company, Earthlink, is willing to put me, a new

father of a special needs child out on the street with no insurance and no

income. I have an excellent work record and my last review was considered

excellent.

I am fighting it and have appealed to my supervisors head, Karl Lodwick to

reconsider the situation. I was told on Friday, 11/10 by Lynn Felgenhauer

that she would plead my case and see what she could do. The following Friday

11/17 still no word. I then called Karl Lodwick myself and he tells me the

decision to have me remained fired or reinstate me is in the hands of Lynn

Felgenhauer and Human Resources and not his. I left a

message then for Lynn Felgenhauer asking about this that is still

unanswered.

On the advice of many here I have consulted with an attorney who has looked

over the documents and agrees I have a solid case of wrongful termination

and breach of contract. The issue is that no lawyer will take the case at

this time because after the $150 filing fee the lawyer works on a

contingency. He says all I can sue for is back pay and not the stress,ect.

Because I was only terminated on the 8th officially, there isn't enough

money to make it the attorney's worthwhile.

So the only option I have left is to make this a public issue. I maintain

that the only thing I want back is my job and nothing else. I am not one of

those people who wants to sue others in hopes of money. I die a little each

day as I have nowhere to go. I loved working for the company and was very

good at it. I felt a sense of team spirit and purpose. My job is/was a

telephone tech support agent. Those that had problems with their computers

would be the ones I helped and it gave me a great sense of fulfillment.

Because of a back injury I suffered after 12 years of working at UPS, I am

unable to just do any job which is why I went back to school for computers.

I believe the real reason I was fired was because I am the parent of a

special needs child. I believe the fear that I might need more time off work

or the added expense to my insurance was the real reason I was fired. This

can happen to any of us parents of special needs kids and I am encouraging

you to help me not allow Earthlink to get away with this. I am asking you to

email the key people involved Sky Dayton (Chairman of the board and founder

of Earthlink) at sky@... and Lynn Felgenhauer (The person in

Human Resources for giving me this runaround and allowing this to happen) at

lynnf9@... If you presently have an Earthlink, Mindspring, or

Sprint account I am asking you to cancel your accounts and make sure they

know why. I am asking that you spread this to your friends and family

members and ask they too email on my behalf. If anyone here works for a news

service or knows someone that does I am more than willing to tell my story

as I feel it affects every single parent of a special needs child and these

companies need to know this kind of discrimination will not be allowed. I

have all the documents to back up my words and am willing to make them

public as well. If I had my way this would be in every newspaper and on the

6 O'clock news!

I don't want to appear as some fanatic and I am not. I am not someone who

goes out seeking this type of publicity. I am actually a very private person

raising my children with my wife in Glendora, CA. All I wanted to do was be

able to go to work each day and leave with some sense of fulfillment. That

has been wrongfully taken away from me and I am angry! I am angry for

myself, my family and for any other parent that this has happened to and if

my going public with this story can in some way stop this from happening to

another parent as well as embarrass Earthlink into reinstating me then

something good can come from my pain. I have spent this time from the 8th

till now trying to quietly and peacefully solve this with Earthlink to no

avail. If anyone has any questions for me or wants to send anyone to help me

please feel free to email me at deallyn@... (they have yet to

cancel my free employee account)

or email me at information@... or phone me, Bill Lawrence (626)

963-4520. I will be happy to answer anyone's questions as I am no longer

sitting back and waiting. I hope you all will help so they know you can't

treat someone like this without it coming back on you.

Thanks for whatever you can do,

Bill

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[Guest guest]

this is awful and right at the holidays, i dont have earthlink but if i did,

holy cow!!!! i may still email them my few thoughts.

[Guest guest]

allready done, prayers that your daughter is doing ok, and soon earthilink

will see the errors of their ways. shawna, mom to nathan 9yrs w/ds

pdd(autism). I will spread the word, but im in a small town area, and dont

think earthlink is around here, but have relatives in big areas will pass it

on. shawna.

[Guest guest]

how is yoru daughter doing?

[Guest guest]

sounds like a cutie, give her lots of cuddlies,lol, my son still occaionally

likes to cuddle mainly with just me sometimes dad, but has to do with the

autism, makes him very antisocial at times, he scribbling on his magna doodle

right now. I agree, other than the many doc visits, he wasnt much different

fom caring from other babies iether, he wouldnt latch on, or eat much, still

has a hard time eating, hard to beleive, he weighs 70lbs and is over 4 ft

tall,lol, they grow sooo fast.

[Guest guest]

Please do. The more emails they get protesting this and the more known it is

the better my chance for reinstatement and the less chance they will try to

pull this again.

Thanks,

Bill

Re: Time for help

> this is awful and right at the holidays, i dont have earthlink but if i

did,

> holy cow!!!! i may still email them my few thoughts.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Even if people aren't customers of Earthlink and email is a great thing!

Thanks,

Bill

Re: Time for help

> allready done, prayers that your daughter is doing ok, and soon earthilink

> will see the errors of their ways. shawna, mom to nathan 9yrs w/ds

> pdd(autism). I will spread the word, but im in a small town area, and dont

> think earthlink is around here, but have relatives in big areas will pass

it

> on. shawna.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

is doing very well right now! She is about 11 1/2 pounds and 2 1/2

months old. She eats like there's no tomorrow. She is very alert and her

blood platelet level is in the normal range...THANK GOD!!!!!

She has no heart defect or any of the other physical side effects that can

accompany DS at the moment. She is alert and loves her swing. Taking care of

her at this stage is no different than it was taking care of my other 2

children when they were that age. She is just a beautiful little girl.

Bill

Re: Time for help

> how is yoru daughter doing?

>

>

>