[Nfbmo] Fw: State Department up to old Rammi type tricks

[James Moynihan]

fyi

Jim and Jana Moynihan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stanzel, Susan - Kansas City, MO" <susan.stanzel at kcc.usda.gov>
To: "'James Moynihan'" <jamesmoynihan at kc.rr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 3:46 PM
Subject: State Department up to old Rammi type tricks


Hi Jana and Jim,

I couldn't help thinking of Rammi when I read this.

Susie

The EEOC recently ruled that the State Department discriminated against an 
applicant for a junior
office position with the Foreign Service because he was regarded as mentally 
disabled. Bitsas v.
State Department, EEOC Appeal No. 0120051657 (9/30/09). In its final agency 
decision, the State
Department had concluded that only 34 percent of posts worldwide would be 
able to provide adequate
medical care for the complainant if he were to suffer a relapse of his 
psychiatric conditions.
On appeal to the EEOC, the applicant contended that he should have been 
granted a waiver of the
worldwide availability standard, asserting his extraordinary skills and 
qualifications were needed
by the Foreign Service, and that agency personnel improperly regarded him as 
disabled without
completing an adequate medical background investigation in his case.

In its decision, the EEOC first determined that the complainant was not an 
"individual with a
disability" and didn't have a "record of" a disability which was 
substantially limiting, although
he had prior psychological episodes. However, it found "that the agency 
regarded complainant as
having one or more chronic impairments which, if they were to relapse, would 
substantially limit
his ability to care for himself and to interact with others." The nurse 
practitioner who was the
chief of medical clearances made this determination without having ever met 
the applicant and not
remembering his specific case. The EEOC held that the complainant has "shown 
that numerous agency
personnel who were involved in denying his application for employment 
regarded him as having
impairments which rendered him substantially limited in the major life 
activities of caring for
himself and/or interacting with others."

The EEOC found that the complainant was "medically fit to serve in any post 
worldwide" as he was
fluent in a number of foreign languages and could communicate with foreign 
medical providers and
therapists if necessary. In addition, there was no evidence that the 
applicant posed a "direct
threat" as his "medical history suggests that the severity of the potential 
harm would in fact
be low." Because the agency did not base its decision to reject the 
complainant on substantial
information regarding his work and medical history and the agency 
psychiatrist never spoke to him,
the EEOC concluded that "the agency failed to conduct an individualized 
assessment, jumping to
conclusions based upon on their own unfounded assumptions and fears." 
Therefore, the EEOC ordered
that the State Department retroactively offer the complainant a position in 
the Foreign Service
and not use the prior medical assessment. If he does not obtain a medical 
clearance, the agency
must assess the complainant's application pursuant to its waiver process. 
=


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