A Letter from Missy:
Friends and family,
As many of you know, I have been in workman's compensation court for over a year as a result of the horrific permanent medical condition I got from the mold exposure while I was working at Rockland Community College.
Today was my 3rd time in court - my only financial award to date was appealed by RCC's insurance company...and it was taken away. Needless to say, I haven't had a lot of faith in the system, but pressed on knowing that it was important for me to have RCC on the books as the cause of my illness.
Today was my big day in court, and miraculously I was awarded the maximum that I could receive under the law for a "differential income" payout for 13 months of lost income that was a direct result of my inability to work due to the mold exposure. Workman's comp law says that if you can prove that you could not work at the same rate you were making before you got ill, they will force your employer to pay you a differential.
The insurance companies don't like this bc they have to pay the bigger bucks in these cases - and it sets a precedent that for any period of time going forward when I may have to leave work due to my reactions to chemicals and breathing issues, they may have to pay again.
Despite spending hours printing emails, photos of the day after the emergency room visit, photos of my office, writing timelines/outlines, documenting every conversation, etc - RCC's insurance company quickly realized TODAY that their "witness" was going to do more harm than good as she was going to have to tell the truth and would be supporting my side of the story. She was the main HR person that I dealt with for nearly 18 months of pure hell at work - she knew what I lived through and how little the college did to help me. That, along with the multiple other workman's comp cases that are quickly piling up, sealed the deal. Their attorney approached mine before we entered the court and offered up the max under the law, acknowledging that they shouldn't put me through the testimony (and frankly that they didn't want the details on record.) I WON. No testimony was needed.
What have I won? Ok, I won some money. For some, it may sound like a lot. I won't ever have my health back, so there is no $ that will make up for that. And frankly, the money I "won" will simply go to paying off the debts I incurred being out of work for just over a year. But what did I win? I won the paper trail, I won that sometimes "right" will win out over a backward and often corrupt legal system. I won the right to say "RCC HAD to take the blame and HAD to be inconvenienced, HAD to pay a higher premium, HAS to acknowledge publicly when asked about mold in the building." I feel like a thousand pound weight has been lifted off of my chest. Today I cried tears of disbelief, shock, relief and ultimately pure joy that the worst of this legal ordeal is behind me.
Thank you friends and family, especially Tony, for helping me through this very difficult and painful time. Your kindness and sensitivity to my chemical insensitivity (from washing your sheets in different detergent when I visit, to not wearing your regular perfume or scented lotion, to cleaning with fragrance free/green products days before I visit, etc) means the world to me. You have all reserved the right to call yourself a mold warrior.
Please keep fighting for what you know to be "right" and let my hard learned story remind you that 1) never ask for someone to give you permission to be healthy and 2) that no job is ever worth your health and 3) that you need to listen to your inner voice - it is there for a reason and 4) that right does sometimes win over the wrong in the world, even when you are losing hope and least expect it!
Love,
Missy
No comments:
Post a Comment