FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mental Health Facility Denies Accomodation to Employee with Hearing Loss

Equip for Equality and Chicago Law Firm File Lawsuit Under ADA

Rockford, Ill. (Oct. 23, 2002) -- Beverly Serrano, an employee of Janet Wattles Mental Health Center in Rockford, Ill., sustained a substantial hearing loss from a head injury she received while performing her duties as a psychosocial specialist. On Oct.18, Equip for Equality (EFE), in conjunction with Chicago law firm Robinson Curley & Clayton, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division, against Wattles for employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for denying Serrano reasonable accommodations when she returned to work and subsequently firing her.

"It is ironic that a community provider of mental health services would engage in discriminatory practices against an employee with a disability," says Laura J. Miller, EFE Managing Attorney. "Our client required only the simplest accommodations at virtually no cost to Wattles and, despite her hearing loss, was qualified for her job and could perform its essential functions as defined under the ADA."

Serrano's long association with Wattles began in the 1970s when she was a consumer of its mental health services for a condition known as dissociative identity disorder. With psychotherapy and medication, her condition greatly improved. In 1991, she was able to realize her life-long dream of counseling and working with persons who have psychiatric disabilities by volunteering at Wattles.

In October 1999, she was employed by Wattles as a psychosocial specialist in a Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA). She received good performance reviews and a pay raise. In October 2000, she experienced an incident involving one of the CILA residents that resulted in her hearing loss and necessitated that she wear hearing aids. She was out of work until January 2001 when she requested a transfer to another Wattles location because of safety concerns.

It was almost a year until Wattles responded to Serrano's request. In November 2001, she was finally transferred to the facility's Silver Lining Clubhouse as a "pre-vocational specialist" working with persons with mental disabilities in the various programs provided by Wattles.

At staff meetings, Serrano requested that people look at her when they spoke so she could lip-read, in addition to relying on her hearing aids. She also asked permission to tape the meetings for later reference. Wattles denied these requests. She encountered blatant hostility from her supervisors and, on one occasion, when she asked a department manager to please speak up, she was told, "If you can't do the job, just get out of my way."

More discrimination followed. She was denied the request to fit her telephone (at her own expense) with a device that made it easier for her to hear callers and was excluded from training opportunities available to others. She was even required to present a doctor's note each day she was absent from work, although Wattles' policy required such notification only for absences beyond three days.

Because of her frustration over the lack of reasonable accommodations, Serrano became depressed and angry. In the absence of her own regular psychologist, she asked her supervisor how to contact the Employee Assistance Program in order to receive counseling related to these issues. Twice the supervisor failed to respond. On Feb. 13, 2002, the day following the second request, Wattles fired Serrano.

The law suit contends that these instances of discriminatory practices by Wattles demonstrate intentional and malicious conduct or reckless indifference to Serrano's rights.

"All Beverly wants is to be able to do a job she loves and for which she is qualified," says Cynthia H. Hyndman, plaintiff's attorney from Robinson Curley & Clayton. "It is indeed unfortunate that, by denying her the simplest accommodations, Wattles has also denied her dream of assisting others with psychiatric disabilities."

Case Reference: Beverly Serrano v. Janet Wattles Mental Health Center, No. 02 C 50404

Other attorneys working on the case are Steven W. Giebelhausen from Equip for Equality and Elizabeth J. Hubertz from Robinson Curley & Clayton. For more information, contact Barry C. Taylor, Legal Advocacy Director, Equip for Equality, at 312- 341-0022, ext. 7317, 800-537-2632 or TTY 800-610-2779.

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