|
 Rights panel agrees with Smithfield man
AUGUSTA -- A human-rights panel on Monday found reasonable grounds to believe that a Smithfield man was a victim of disability discrimination when he was fired as director of maintenance at a residential care facility in Hermon
Terry Dellarma, 51, filed a complaint with Maine Human Rights Commission after he was fired from Cedar Ridge Center, run by Skowhegan SNF Operations. He had worked at the facility for eight years.
Commissioners upheld a reasonable-grounds finding by their investigator, Robert D. Beauchesne.
Commission findings are not law but may become grounds for lawsuits. The case will now enter a conciliation phase.
The company, according to the investigator's report, said Dellarma was working beyond doctors' medical advice and lifting items that were too heavy.
Dellarma had suffered a series of injuries beginning with an off-duty motor vehicle accident in March 2007, and ending with a knee injury he suffered while single-handedly trying to move a bedframe through a doorway at the workplace, according to Beauchesne's report.
At the time of the injury, doctor's orders had restricted Dellarma from any overhead work and to lifting no more than 15 pounds with his left arm, the report said. Dellarma was fired three days later.
The company, through attorney Roberta Ruiz, said Dellarma was fired because he "has injuries that prevent him from performing his work duties. He has restrictions that he has been noncompliant with creating unsafe conditions."
Dellarma's attorney was Andrew Mason.
The investigator found that "although the respondent appears to have ample grounds to terminate complainant based upon his repeated failure to comply with his work restrictions and work in a safe manner, the respondent's decision to further bolster its case for termination by also including as a basis that the complainant's restrictions were permanent and could not be accommodated, prior to any effort to discern if that was indeed the case, was discrimination based upon physical disability under the Maine Human Rights Act."
(2010-04-13 / Morning Sentinel)
|
首頁 
聯絡我們
4/13：Rights panel agrees with Smithfield man (Morning Sentinel)