Toluene

The California State Lands Commission set a trap for me in
1997 and terminated me when they were aware of the fact
that I should have been on Medical Leave of Absence. Now I
receive SSDI based upon the fact that I was disabled when
they fired me, and retroactive to a date prior to my
wrongful termination from a hostile work environment (I
know, it sounds like a cliche, but those are the facts, and
the correct terminology). I filed for Workers Comp, and the
doctors I was sent to for evaluation wrote reports that
sound too much like the lies that my admittedly vendictive
ex-wife was spreading about me at the time to be
coincidental. I have a hearing scheduled for July 18 where
the attorneys will try to come to an agreement to avoid a
trial. Personally, I would welcome a trial, because I want
to see justice done. People can say, "yeah, right..." and
roll their eyes until Hell freezes over, but I have a moral
obligation to see this thing through. I was maliciously
required to work with pure toluene in the lab without
adequate protection, and the purpose for which I was made
to work in the substance was something that CalOSHA would
not let the oil companies do. Yet there I was, working for
another State agency being required to work in direct
contact with a toxin known to cause brain damage.
My detractors have said I waited too
long to file with the EEOC and get permission to sue the
State under the ADA. Unfortunately for the state, my
psychiatrist was reviewing results of my brain scan, and
mentioned that the scan showed brain damage that is
consistent with other patients who had been poisoned with
toluene and similar toxins. Since my doctor made this
discovery this week, the various statutes will have to be
reset to this week. And I am far enough removed from the
initial trauma of being set up and wrongfully fired that I
am not going to let myself be talked into anything less
than what they took away from me. The whole mess has seemed
fishy from the beginning, and they undoubtedly think they
will sweep me under the rug and that I'll wind up in a
paupers grave. I don't think so......
Robert V. Harmony