Thread regarding Bank of New York Mellon Corp. layoffs

@fx I am not a lawyer. The process would be if denied to make a case with the EEOC first. They then would give you a letter giving you the right to take legal action. If your Dr. fills out the paperwork I doubt they would deny it.

So if you gave a neurological condition that gives you auras And limits your ability to drive in. and they deny it. Can you sue?

According to the Job Accommodation Network (https://askjan.org/publications/consultants-corner/Recertifying-the-Ongoing-Need-for-Accommodation.cfm) this is not allowed by BNY, they should expect many lawsuits from this.

I tried to “refresh my paperwork” last year and HR wouldn’t accept it. Now I have also gotten this request to reapply. I think they are using this to try to deny people and release without compensation. All of the things I need as a disabled person are set up for me at home. They save quite a bit of money as I don’t get any compensation whatsoever for using my own supplies, electricity, and Wi-Fi. Also, the nearest office is over an hour from me.

Post ID: @dc+1jyeta4ck Exactly.

I won’t give too much detail about my disability for anonymity reasons. I will share that I have a couple of medical issues. The first is bone related… if someone touches me, it feels like my bone is breaking. So just a touch on the shoulder, back or someone bumping into me causes excruciating pain. Lots of people don’t respect boundaries so you can imagine what I would deal with in an office.

I also have a condition that affects my balance so I’m prone to falling and have had injuries because of it.

I rarely leave my home, usually for doctor appointments only. I’m in pain every waking moment and can only sleep less than a few hours each night.

I actually had someone at work tell me that I “sound fine”. How does a disability sound? It’s crazy how some people think. I get passive aggressive comments all the time about being at home.

I would trade places with a healthy person in a millisecond.

It’s truly frustrating to have to deal with all of that and now deal with this recertification every six months knowing that I will either need to disclose my full medical information or risk some HR lapdog denying me remote work and termination without severance.

@bm ok know all about ADA compliant. If someone has a neurological problem and the get spells where they can get dizzy or severe headaches, it's a risk for them to drive or even take transit. People need to stop playing Dr. I'm glad no one in your family or you have a disability. I never questioned the people who had the cozy work from home agreements. All this started because of new upper management going back on letting people work from home more than one day a week.

Funny I got the request today too, due 6/28. My reasonable accommodation was originally approved 6/23/2023 so I simply assumed it was a bi-annual deal but it seems bigger than that now.

@bf I’ll have you know I am too fat to enter the elevator and bathroom stalls! Where do they expect me to do my business - in my diaper? Office chairs won’t support my fat ar-e.

Do all disabilities really prevent working in office? The offices have to be ADA compliant so I find all of this hard to believe.

I’m sure those targeted are going to be super motivated to work now. What a horrible employer.

@bb if that’s the case, then why didn’t everyone just get approved for an accommodation?

It’s simply not true.

We work for a toxic company and have employees like you cheerleading a company that is mistreating its disabled workers by requiring additional recertification for permanent disabilities. This is a blatant violation of ADA guidelines - this can be considered creating a hostile environment for people with disabilities.

The company is already discriminating in their hiring practices: no one with a remote medical accommodation is allowed a promotion and are actively being turned down for internal job opportunities.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising for this company to use the guise of recertification to suddenly deny accommodations to terminate employees.

Look at what they are doing to employees whose office location closed - they either choose to relocate (often to another state) without financial assistance or they are being let go without severance.

It is well known that people gamed the system a few years ago with accommodations to avoid return to office. HR would not question it due to litigation risk. Those who truly have legitimate need for reasonable accommodations will keep them because BNY is required under federal law. For the gamers, you are the new coffee swipers.

Tell EEOC that the disabled are expected to re-certify their disability. Executives who have no disability can work remote with no issues.

Clearly HR is on this thread and other threads frantically downvoting.

The people team are not responding to questions.

Does this medical form need to be filled out by the doctor every six months even for permanent disability? That puts an additional burden on me of $100 for an office visit and $40 for the office to complete the form. It also means taking additional time away from work hours for the appointment and it’s difficult for me to leave the house which is why I have the accommodation in the first place. Even if I was seen by my doctor just a few weeks prior, they need you there in person while filling out paperwork. Of course it’s a money grab, but it puts additional pressure on me when I’m already dealing with pain from my disability. Once a year or every two years would be more tea for people with permanent disability.

I filled out the intake form on the EEOC to discuss options and have an appointment for a video call.

@aa no doctor is “risking their career” over signing documentation that indicates an employee should work remotely for an accommodation. It’s not like we are talking about disability fraud, which is a whole different thing altogether.

I can assure you with my disability I can find three doctors to sign off on mine. I’ve been working from home for awhile and never had it impacted my ability to get the job done.

Also, the irony is if I were to come into the office, they’d have to spend an arm and a leg to get me accommodated and I would be nowhere near my coworkers so that “in-person collaboration” wouldn’t be happening anyway.

Don’t expect much help from EEOC - remember that is a federal agency subject to the whims of our would-be dictator. The agency has probably been gutted & told to drop a lot of support it had always provided to workers in need.

@a9+1jyeta4ck People are not getting medical accommodations unless they’re medically necessary. It requires a doctor to fill out the limitations and sign. No doctor is risking their career for a BNY employee to get remote work.

The problem is upper management who have pitted employees against each other by making up the rumors that employees were getting remote work for anxiety when they first tried forcing everyone back to the office three years ago.

This just puts another onus on people who are already dealing with the stress and struggles of having a disability.

What happens when the person with a disability takes an extra week to get their doctor to sign the form? Is it termination with no severance even though the person has a documented disability that could be done remotely for years.

Medical accommodations are important and absolutely necessary for those who truly need them. But when people get accommodations who could actually come into the office, it feels unfair to the rest of us who show up every day.

@OP They are asking for trouble as everyone knows they have management who have no disabilities that work remote. Unless they start making them resign, one can prove people with disabilities are not causing undo hardship by working remotely.

I received that message from HR too. I’m already looking at the EEOC website.

Filing one now. No way a mass “layoff” (which is fraudulent in reality) is legal the way they are carrying this out. If I’m let go for this, as far as I’m concerned I’ve hit the lottery.