Posted by Bob on December 2, 1999, at 20:40:06
In reply to Re: Noa 11/23 & Jennyann - This must be a joke , posted by Noa on December 1, 1999, at 19:32:29
... a tale of unbelievable inspiration.
Packrat-- NYC and NYS have civil rights laws that cover disabilities that apparently exist outside the context of the ADA. I don't know the legalities of it ... all I know is that the laywer I've been speaking with says the civil rights route is quicker and more lucrative when successful. Trust a lawyer to sniff out where the dough is, even this one who won't work on contingency.
My latest tactic is also to go after my employer through other routes. They have federal and state funding that requires a letter of compliance with every non-discrimination and civil rights act you can imagine, and these sources of funding have their own investigation units. Besides that, I'm trying to pull together every scrap of evidence I can for potential fraud or misspending of funds for a whistleblower action. Everyone I've known who gets federal or state funds for something winds up misspending some of it, so such charges are rarely frivilous. In my case, tho, I'm sure I could document anywhere from 5-15% of our yearly budget on this grant being misspent. I just don't know if that's enough for the Inspector General of this funding organization to care ... it being a federal agency that has congress breathing fire down its back, I think they'd be interested.
It may do nothing to fix my situation, and it may be petty and malicious to some extent, but there's more than one type of satisfaction and I don't think I'll lose sleep if my employer has to refund better than $50k of all y'all's tax dollars back to the gov, even if the gov just misspends it somewhere else.
Hey, maybe I can get Tom Brokaw to talk to me about, oh, what's that series he has on misspent federal funds?
oh, the bit o' inspiration ...
My previous employer screwed me royal. Nevermind the intricacies of NYC tax laws, residential status, and where you work -- suffice to say that because of the incompetent arses in the payroll office I was out about $3k in taxes that should have been withheld but weren't. At the time, I was just starting meds and was taking nothing for my panic disorder. I completely flipped out. I couldn't file ... I couldn't even look at the shelf in my home office where I had put the papers. Hell, I couldn't even tell my therapist about it for over a year!
Well, along came clonazepam and then nortriptyline, and I finally could face the music. By now, the debt had grown to $4500 in taxes, interest, and penalties. By NY law, you can protest penalties but not taxes owed or interest due. But I got a letter from my therapist and my pdoc describing my situation, told the story of how it happened, asked for some accommodation due to my disability, and then (with a check for $300 as an gesture of good faith) asked for the entire debt to be cancelled. That was back in July.
Guess what? I now own this glorious piece of art, valued at $4200, in the form of a letter from the treasury cancelling my entire obligation. I'm gonna frame the dang thing and hang it on a wall.
You see -- sometimes the good guys (and gals) DO win ... even when playing with the taxperson.
Bob
poster:Bob
thread:15628
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19991123/msgs/16102.html