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Government employee charges the DOD with discrimination
By Kelly Wilkinson
Last Thursday, on a morning that alternately poured rain or shone brightly, Steve Tomei stood outside 1265 Borregas Ave. under a red umbrella with a sign that simply stated "I want to work."
Tomei worked for the Department of Defense's Contract Management Command for the past 14 years, most recently as a mail clerk. He also has epilepsy, and he stood outside his former office to protest the fact that he was fired, he believes, because of his disability.
"This has been hell on wheels," Tomei said about the process leading up to his firing. "I'm completely able to do my job with reasonable accommodation, which is required by law."
In June 1997, Tomei filed a Equal Employment Opportunity with the contract management center, which ended in a settlement that provided Tomei with a better working environment.
According to the public affairs department of the Defense Contract Management District-West, downsizing around this time necessitated that Tomei be the only mail clerk,which Tomei and his union representative, Anna Hellmer, saw as an increase in responsibility without any raise. But Gay Maunde, the public affairs officer, said there was no promotion involved.
The next February, Tomei's manager, Maxine Collova, asked him to attend performance counseling sessions after she perceived a decline in his performance, according to Maunde. Tomei and Hellmer say management denied his request for union representation at two of those meetings. "Tomei was feeling threatened at the sessions and repeatedly asked for representation," said Hellmer, who is also president of the American Federation of Government Employees. "But after two times in a row of them rejecting the request, Steve felt too harassed to keep asking."
But Maunde contends that Tomei did not want Hellmer present.
Collova and other administrators had padded the room that Tomei worked in to reduce the potential for injury during any seizures. At the time, Tomei was the only employee working in the room, which locked from the outside for security purposes, according to Maunde.
But Tomei and Hellmer say that management kept him in his own locked room, for the purpose of keeping others away from him, which contributed to Tomei's sense of isolation--despite the fact that his manager told him he could come and go as he pleased.
Hellmer disagreed. "If he has a seizure and hits the floor, how is he free to come and go as he pleased?" she said.
After having a seizure on July 31, Tomei's manager put him on administrative leave on Aug. 3, pending investigation of his physical capabilities. On Feb. 25 he was given a week's notice of his removal. His last day was March 5.
Both Tomei and Hellmer said the defense contract organization has not reasonably accommodated Tomei, which is illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
They have already filed an additional formal complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission headquarters in Virginia, written to all the state legislators, and are in the final steps of an internal grievance procedure with Tomei's former employer.
"This is a fever pitch right now," Hellmer said. "It's been bad faith at every turn with management working against Steve to reach reasonable accommodation."
Tomei and his attorney, Frederick Roesti, have proposed accommodations that would provide Tomei with opportunities and privileges similar to anyone else's, Roesti said. They include the suggestion that Tomei be able to sit down while performing his job, and the use of one sick day per month for Tomei to recover from any seizures. But Roesti said that the management has refused to review the suggestions.
According to Roesti, two neurologists both said before they could make a decision about Tomei's ability to work, they would have to evaluate his work environment. This has not happened.
"Their failure to provide reasonable accommodation, to look at the doctors' reports in good faith and to reconsider the removal indicate that at every level, each person is covering for the other and no person is looking out for the best interests of the agency," Roesti said.
Tomei suffers from both petite mal and atonic epileptic seizures.
According to Hellmer and Tomei, Tomei's problems at work began two years ago, when Defense Contract Management replaced its top management team. Prior to that time, he had been accommodated and able to work, despite having occasional seizures.
Roesti backs this point by stating that Tomei's former managers consistently gave him positive evaluations. "Steve has a lot of support from his co-workers and has uniformly received [the highest satisfaction ratings] as a team player and in customer satisfaction," Roesti said. "Really, that should say it all. If you're performing your job and satisfying your customers, then your disability should not be used against you."
The DCM District-West public affairs office agrees that Steve has a lot of support. But Maunde said all accommodations have been given and there is nothing further the agency can do.
"This is a heartbreaker to all of us," Maunde said. "Everyone loves him, and this is very painful for all of us. But due process is finished now and we went through all the steps."
"No one has ever had a problem with [my epilepsy] except this management," Tomei said. "All my prior supervisors made accommodations for me and were fine with it."
Solomon Bockstein, who picketed along with Tomei, Hellmer and Tomei's parents, niece and nephew, is the retired chief steward of the Federation of Government Employees.
"There has been constant harassment from management," Bockstein said. "It's virtually intolerable [at DCMC] for people both with disabilities and those without."
Bockstein cited several other examples of management creating a difficult work environment, such as another employee being docked 15 minutes of vacation time after spending over the allotted amount of his break time taking Tomei home after a seizure.
Tomei and his fellow picketers lifted their Saran Wrap-covered signs for passing cars and trucks, and raised them even higher when they got a honk, smile or clenched fist in response.
Tomei said the largest limitation with his epilepsy is not being able to drive a car, but aside from that he's able to do things everyone else is.
"[The epilepsy] is just one of those things that you just have to put up with," he said. "You gotta do what you gotta do."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
