Termination While on Medical Leave

.My question involves civil rights in the State of: Michigan, i was terminated while on medical leave. Ihave filed a charge of discrimination based on disability and a previous charge of race and retailiation the EEOC issued a cause finding and it reads as follows..on March 16, 2011, a charge of discrimination was filed, in which the charging party alleged that he was discharged in retaliation for the filing of his previous charge and taking leave to address issues related to his disability, in violation of title 1 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. The answer to the above charge reads as follows..The evidence does support Charging Party's allegation that he was subjected to an unlawful employment practice when he was discharged in retaliation for filing a charge of employment discrimination(charge#) and for being on leave due to his disability. Now, i know you don't have a magical ball but can you tell me in your opinion how much case like this could possibly bring? The introduction states i was terminated in violation of Title7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the (ADA), the (FMLA), and the Civil Rights Act of (ELCRA).

Anywhere between $0 and sixty gazillion dollars.

Honestly, how can you possibly expect us to come up with a number when we don't even know the facts of the case? The fact finding does NOT say you were terminated in violation of the Civil Rights Act - that's for a judge or jury to decide. The finding says that there is sufficient evidence to warrant taking further action. You haven't won yet.

Lol!!! Ok, what is fact finding? Even though the equal employment opportunity commission found the company guilty of an illegal employment practice and through conciliation was offered 70,000-of which by reason of my attorney, i turned down. Does not the (EEOC's) decision carry ANY WEIGHT? Mind you, i was still receiving short-term disability through the companies insurer.

So....if you've already won and you're guaranteed a big payout, why are you asking a message board how much you're going to get? Why take it to court at all? Why is the EEOC not telling you what your prize is?

The prize offered to me by the eeoc was 70,000. 40k for lost wages and 30k for punitive, the company agreed to 40k but refused to pay punitive, so i requested my right to sue letter-per my attorney.

Then you need to be asking your attorney, who knows the details of your case, what the case is worth. We don't know.

OP, you have not won anything yet. Based on your posts, it appears that the EEOC issued a “probable cause” determination finding that the evidence unearthed through its investigation supported your discrimination allegations, and that your employer offered to settle for $40K. Based on the limited number of facts presented, no one here could give you an educated guess as to what you could possibly recover if your case proceeds to court.

As mentioned above, your counsel would have the best insight as to the value of your case. IMHO, you should follow his or her advice. If you have a million dollar case, you can rest assured your attorney will likely not have any interest in settling for $70K or anything in that neighborhood. In addition to having an ethical obligation to look out for your best interest, your attorney may have a direct, financial, contingency interest in you recovering the most money possible here. Accordingly, he or she will in all likelihood make the best assessment possible in whether to proceed to court and in evaluating your case.

BTW, I would recommend you confer with counsel concerning how you frame prospective settlement offers. While a defendant may have intractable objections to directly settling a potential punitive damages claim, it may not have the same objections to settling a potential non-economic compensatory damages claim.

Thank you, you're insight is very helpful. As a matter of fact i just got off the phone with my attorney and he told me that the company's attorney what's to do mediation tomorrow without discovery...and that he feels the merits of the case are valid..?? What does this mean?

It appears defendant’s counsel has agreed to participate in mediation presumably convened by the EEOC. In light of this agreement to mediate and the parties’ prior settlement discussions, the circumstances appear promising, at least in the abstract. The prospect for a negotiated resolution looks good.

With that said, I would recommend you seek a meeting with your attorney prior to mediation if at all possible. IMHO, the two of you want to have a better understanding of the realistic objectives you want to accomplish at mediation. It is difficult to fathom how counsel can represent your interests well during said negotiations if both of you are not on the same page.

Im sorry but the process of the eeoc is complete. If you go back and read my thread you will see that i requested a right to sue letter which would end the process with the eeoc. This meeting has nothing to do with the eeoc, just the company's counsel and my attorney. But it seems weird that the defendant would go into mediation without a discovery..my attorney told me he is asking for 1m but this is with going to trial. Now, in just trying to figure out a happy medium short of 1m.