Q: Is this illegal and do you think I would stand a chance if I took it to court???
So my situation is this. I applied for this front desk job at this local hotel a couple weeks ago and in the interview I disclosed my severe anxiety disorder to them. (I have also been diagnosed by a doctor) and they still hired me. I worked for a little over a week and the job was making me have really bad anxiety/ Panic attacks to the point where I came home in tears having a hard time breathing. I told my boss about this and said I would prefer to be moved to a housekeeping position so I wouldn’t have to be at front desk anymore. I told her I was willing to work until they found a replacement for me and they just fired me on the spot that same day (today) I was wondering if that was illegal? I’ve been doing some research about it but I just don’t know if it’s actually illegal and if I could do something about it since I’ve only been working about a weekish...?
Also I am a military spouse and if I could take this to court would I be able to get a free/cheaper lawyer trough them?
A: Your severe anxiety disorder likely qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It sounds like, because your anxiety was causing panic attacks at the front desk, you requested a reasonable accommodation of being placed in a housekeeping position. Your termination seems to have been in retaliation for requesting that reasonable accommodation. I would reach out to an employment lawyer in your state for a consultation. These cases are sometimes taken on a contingency fee basis, so, in that case, there would be no out of pocket cost to you to retain an attorney to handle this matter.
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