Terminated

[cbccern]

Hello all,

I was formally employed as a registered nurse at a hospital in the DC area. This hospital is an affiliate of a large, well-known medical institution in Maryland. I went back to work relatively quickly requiring no accommodations after having lost 50% of my vision, A month after the first vision loss, I suffered another incident and more than 25% of my vision was taken at that time. I am left with a total of about 25% of my vision. The vision that I do have left is to the left lower quadrant of each eye and I am extremely grateful to have this. I am currently enrolled in school and have 14 more hours until I obtain my BSN, planning for a December graduation. They do not know the reason for the strokes and for now they are terming it cryptogenic. I applied for more than 20 different positions with my former employer and was only offered one position. I met the minimum qualifications for all jobs that I applied for. The job they offered me was to deliver dietary trays. I had applied for this position and it was listed as 20-29 hours a week, but stated that it was 40 hours a week during the interview. The job started at 5:30am and would have involved me paying $30 one way for Uber transportation since I would not be able to get to work on time using metrol. I politely declined the offer. The two gentlemen I interviewed with were very kind individuals. The other interviews I had were not as successful, one I was dismissed after less than three minutes. Another interview I felt went well but was later told that I was not a "strong candidate" to answer phones and use the computer (unit secretary). I was a clerk typist in the Army years ago (what the heck). They declined to interview me for case management or LGBTQ nursing positions. But, I could and did volunteer for my employer Unfortunately during my time volunteering, they decided I could do things outside the scope of volunteering (i.e. reading PPD tests, doing UDS). I was also told that maybe they could find me a paid position after I volunteered for a year or so. I reported the situation to the powers that be, so they could locate a different volunteer position and they said they would call me and let me know. Never received a call, although I left messages and emails. I was terminated by this employer on June 1 with the reason being that I would not accept the dietary position, even though my doctor recommended and I requested reasonable accommodations of a 24 hour workweek for a limited time. I contacted EEOC and they are overworked and not willing to accept the case. My question is this, do we spend the money for litigation with no promise of return on the investment or do I just accept that sometimes life gives you lemons. Thank you in advance for sharing and any and all opinions. This is a very isolating situation and has led me feeling completely worthless and useless. I attempted to volunteer at a local hospital and they refused me based on the fact that I was a nurse.

[caliotter3]

Would advise to cut your losses. That money will be needed, by you.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I also think you should cut your losses. You need to find a job for which your current impairments are not a big issue -- in a work environment that is going to be supportive of hiring someone with your special needs. Trying to force your current employer to hire you is unlikely to lead to happiness.