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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

This seems like pretty bad advice. There are at least two areas of employment law where stuff definitely happens for workers in this person's story: contractor classification and ADA accommodations. An employee with a mental health condition that impacts the ordinary manner which team members communicate is entitled to request reasonable accommodations.

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I never suggested the employee wasn't entitled to ADA accommodations. Are you perhaps confusing my comment with some of the other comments in this thread?

The problem is that the OP didn't request accommodations until HR had already scheduled a meeting, which the OP assumes was to fire them:

> I suspected they were going to fire me (scheduled 1am call with HR) and I've decided to share with them 3 days ago my Bipolar Diagnosis.

The OP also explains that they were not communicating with the company leading up to this event.

Unfortunately, the ADA accommodations can't be retroactively applied after the company has fired the employee.

Unless I'm misunderstanding the OP's post, we shouldn't be encouraging them to pursue legal action which is unlikely to produce a positive result.

All three of the comments you've made are thoughtful, well considered, and informative. HN suffers, at times, from a cliquishness that degrades the quality of discourse.

You made some good points but some assumptions too.

You said diminished communication is grounds for dismissal. You didn't say diminished capacity might excuse it. Both are important.

It isn't clear if they disclosed the condition before or after the meeting was scheduled. It's clear they did it before they were fired.

They said their communication dropped. They didn't say they weren't communicating.

We should be encouraging them to get advice from a qualified professional.

I did disclosure my condition 4 days before the HR meeting where they fired me. Sent all my docs diagnosis and letter. I only acted based con my intuition what that meeting was about. Actually the meeting wasn't with HR but my manager, just in a weird hour (1am). I figured out HR had another call scheduled same time with my manager (which I was not invited) but public in the company calendar. I did it because I knew that I had to do it BEFORE the call. Even I had a call with HR and they supported me. They had enough time.

You're right. My comment would have been better without the first sentence, which was harsh (and, I think, probably mostly incorrect). I apologize!

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