Wrongful Termination/Retailiation/Discrimination/Workers Comp Violations...

As you can tell by the title of my thread, I have a very detailed case that covers almost every area in the employment law category. I chose wrongful termination because I figured this would be my best hope at recieiving a response. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME, as this is somewhat of a lengthy case. Keep in mind, that I am an employee in the State of Colorado.

For the past 4 years, I worked as a Treatment Supervisor for a treatment center for at risk youth. My responsibilities included verbal de-escalation of all escalated youth, and physical managements for youth posing a physical threat to themselves or others. Due to the nature of my job, the risk of injury was high. During my time of employment, I suffered 3 dislocations to my right shoulder (resulting in 1 surgery, and endless hours of physical therapy), and I suffered a fracture and dislocation to my left shoulder. The fracture and dislocation to my left shoulder occured on 2.25.2008. Following this injury, the workers compensation doctor placed me on very strict restrictions, which included no lifting, no repetitive motion, and no contact with our clients due to their violent nature. Although the workers compensation doctor placed me on these restrictions, my employer never followed these restrictions, and had me complete all of my normal job duties without no modifications of my duties. Their response to my medical restrictions was "ok, now get back to work". During the time that I was on workers compensation with these medical restrictions, I was forced to perform multiple physical restraints (while using my injured arm) on acting out youth, for both their safety and my own. Each time that I was forced to perform a physical restraint, I would speak with my supervisor to let him know that I felt that I was being placed in an unsafe work environment. I recieved no response to my complaints, and recieved no modification of my duties to fit the restrictions that I had been placed on by the workers compensation doctor. During my visits with the workers compensation doctor, I regularly explained that they were not following the medical restrictions that he had placed me on. He would then place me on stricter medical restrictions, which continued to be ignored by my employer. On 4.16.08 (keep in mind, I am still on workers compensation with the restriction that I am not allowed contact with our clients), I was forced to complete a suicide assessment on a youth, which I was asked to complete against our policy (which states that he is either verbally expressing ideations to self harm, or making the physical attempt to self harm, which this youth was not doing). I was asked to complete this suicide assessment by the clinical director, who was on site, and is responsible for making the final determination on the action plan for that youth. Following the completion of this suicide assessment, I consulted with the clinical director, who asked me to leave the suicide assessment with her so that she could complete the action plan portion of the suicide assessment. On 4.17.08, I was placed on Administrative Leave while my employer conducted an investigation into whether I properly completed the suicide assessment. When I asked what portion of the suicide assessment they were investigating, they informed me that they were investing the action plan portion of the suicide assessment, which was to be completed by the clinical director. Knowing that this was not the time to state my case, I accepted the Administrative Leave under the assumption that I would be contacted during the investigation, and be given the attempt to defend myself. Of course, this never occurred. I did write multiple grievances at this time, including one regarding them not following my medical restrictions while on workers compensation. On 4.28.08, I was contacted to come into a meeting to discuss their findings of my grievances, as well as the findings of their investigation into the suicide assessment that they had me complete. During this meeting, the stated that all of my grievances were unfounded (which I can prove to be untrue by documentation that I maintained during my employment), and they made the determination to terminate my employment on 4.28.08. The information in my termination papers was false, because they stated that they gave me an opportunity to defend myself, and that I admitted fault during this time. I requested that they change the information in my termination papers to contain accurate information, which they refused to do. As such, I refused to sign my termination papers because the information contained in my termination papers was false. I then asked if they were going to pay me for the vacation time that I had earned during my time of employment. They informed me that it is their company policy that vacation time is "use it or lose it". They cited me a national corporate handbook, which does not necessarily fall into compliance with Colorado State Law because it makes no determination from state to state. I then asked if they inteded to pay me for the time that they had placed me on Administrative Leave. They informed me that it is their company policy to not pay Administrative Leave pay to employees who are terminated at the end of their Administrative Leave time. They again cited me their national corporate handbook. My employer never completed an exit interview where I was offered the opportunity to opt into an alternative insurance plan, or state what information they could disclose to prospective employers.

Now, the week that I was terminated, I was expecting the birth of my second child. I had scheduled (and had it approved) to use my vacation time to be there for the birth of my second child, and the first couple weeks of his life. I was in the process of attempting to use my vacation time, and they terminated my employment before I was allowed to do so. Furthermore, without informing me, they immediately terminated my medical insurance benefits, although they did not offer (as they are required to do by law) an alternative insurance plan in writing.

I believe that I have a case in the following areas:
1) Violation of workers compensation laws (they refused to follow medical restrictions ordered by the workers compensation doctor. Furthermore, they never offered alternative duties or offered to have me placed on temporary disability because they could not find alternative duties for me).
2) Unsafe work environment (due to them not following the medical restrictions ordered by the workers compensation doctor, I was forced to work in an environment where I risked further injury).
3) Hostile work environment (due to the fact that they ignored my repeated attempts to discuss alternative work duties that fit within my medical restrictions).
4) Disability discrimination (my understanding after talking with my workers compensation doctor is in the State of Colorado, any employee on workers compensation is considered to be temporarily disabled. As such, they discriminated against me because they refused to acknowledge medical restrictions, and terminated me for allegedly incorrectly doing my job, although I should not have been doing this job in the first place per the workers compensation doctors orders).
5) Gender discrimination (I have a copy of a former female employees termination papers that show that she recieved pay for time that she was on Administrative Leave leading up to her termination. As I said, this former employee is a female, and the Human Resource manager that terminated my employment is a female as well. This Human Resource manager is the person that terminated employment for both of us).
6) Retaliation (I was terminated in retaliation for expressing that my rights were violated, and for the grievances that I had written when I was placed on Administrative Leave. I can prove this based on their written response to my grievances, which as has been previously stated I can prove to be untrue through documentation that I maintained during my time of employment).
7) Illegal Termination Of Insurance Benefits (as indicated, they terminated my insurance benefits without offering me the opportunity to opt into an alternative insurance plan).
8) Wrongful Termination (I was terminated for an alleged performance violation that occurred while they had me performing a job that was in direct violation of the medical restrictions ordered by my workers compensation doctor).
9) Non Payment Of Wages (while their company policy for vacation pay is "use it or lose it", Colorado State law indicates that vacation pay is considered to be an earned wage that is payable at time of termination because those hours have a dollar value. The company "use it or lose it policy" violates the non-waiver of rights section of the Colorado Wage Act, which states that any agreement indicating that an employee waives their right to pay for earned wages is void).
10) Damages (for costs occurred as a result of the above listed information)

THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME. Any help, guidance, advice, or direction that you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Your case is detailed and of course, the nuances vary from state to state.

The most critical thing you can do is immediately seek the specific guidance of a workmans comp attorney in your area. There is simply no way a message board/forum such as this could ever begin to address the specifics of your complaint.

A local attorney can, in mere minutes, advise you of your rights under the law, and sumrise if he (or she) believes there has been a violation---or at the least, any violation that is actionable.

I would act in all haste---the more time that transpires, the more difficult it will be to defend your position.

Thank you for your response.
Here is where i'm at. I have an attorney representing me for the workers compensation piece of my complaint, and they believe that I have a very strong case. But the attorney's that they have referred me to to cover the remaining portion of my case all have full case loads.
I am wondering what type of attorney I need to look for. Do I look for a civil attorney? I have tried finding employment attorneys, and each one that I have contacted within a 100 mile radius has informed me that they represent the employer, not the employee. it's kind of like i'm at a dead end. I don't know what to do.
I know that I have the documentation to support all aspects of my case, and I know that they have trapped themselves into a web of lies that I can prove to be untrue. I just don't know which direction to turn.

Is the WC attorney just representing you in recovering money? Or is he addressing the violations of the company at large regarding making you work when you were physically unable to?

I believe there are separate issues. The workmans comp issue is very specialized. Looking for a 'civil' attorney is nebulous. If an attorney is not a criminal defense attorney, he most likely handles civil cases (as opposed to corporate law, family law, etc)--although those are classified as civil ( as opposed to criminal ) as well.

The attorney that represents you doesn't have to be local. Example: An attorney assisting me in investigating the possibilities regarding my husbands death happens to be in Texas, and I am in SC. He has levied lawsuits against Ford in the past and the 35 million dollar judgment he won against Ford was instrumental in the current recall for the faulty fire relay switch. When my husband died in a fiery Ford truck accident, I contacted this gentleman in regards to a wrongful death suit against Ford. And he is hundreds of miles away from me, yet we keep in very close contact one with the other.

Post your query here on the part of the forum for such. http://www.legalmatch.com/link.php?ai=29&ar=/home.htmlSee if an attorney who can represent you will respond. Perhaps the only relief you will be able to seek is in the form of an award through WC for the failure of your employer to comply. In fact, your action isn't really against WC, it is against the employer, right? I don't know why the same attorney cannot handle all of these issues since they seem inextricaby linked.

Thank you again for your response. I will keep trying, and see if I can find someone ANYWHERE that is willing to help me with my case.

I have contacted the EEOC, but they will not represent me in my case as it is. Not that I don't have a case, but they are more interested in class action claims. While I know multiple employees who have been treated similarly in regards to WC from the same employer, none are willing to step out against them because they remain employed there at this time.

My workers comp attorney is only representing me in recovery of benefits. I am trying to press them on taking the illegalaties of my employers actions, or refer me to an attorney who can. I'm just making much progress in that area yet.

I just got off of the phone with the unemployment office, and they informed me that they have completed their investigation into my unemployment claim and determined that the company was at fault for the termination, meaning that I was terminated through no fault of my own (although the company attempted to indicate that I was at fault). They sent me a letter indicating what their determination was, and I should recieve this letter today. Does this letter not help in supporting me in my entire case as a whole?