Contractor with Federal Government

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I am wondering if anyone here is a contractor or was a contractor with Federal Government. I have aspergers and learning disability. As a contractor do I still get accommodations? I can't stand training new people because I either get them confused or I get mad at myself. I see how my co workers talk and their body language, but I can't be like them. I have terrible communication and social skills. I have no friends at all so life is very lonely. I read the Americans with Disabilities Act, but that doesn't cover any form of autism? Can someone with aspergers or learning disability get fired because they can't do a certain task that is required of them?

Thanks

Not sure how it'd be for a "contractor" versus an "employee." Do contractors have co-workers?

As far as the ADA goes, all disability is covered, but proof of being disabled is upon the person who claims to have been discriminated against. More so, employers have a right to expect you to be able to do the job you are asking to be hired for. So, if you can't do a task that is essential to a job because of a disability, it may be legitimate grounds to not hire you or to terminate you later on. The legal standard is "reasonable accommodation" which is pretty vague and often interpreted in favor of the employer.

Then what's the point of the ADA if people can fire you and say "oh you can't do this, bye."

The ADA supposedly covers all disability discrimination, which would include Autism, but let me tell you, when you are discriminated against, the entire system works to cover it up and protect the discriminator. No one, and I mean NO ONE will help you, not Bureaucrats tasked with anti-discrimination, not State Representatives, not Congressmen - no one. You'll be lucky if you can get anyone to answer a simple email. So don't worry about the ADA, it's useless, unless you're demanding a wheelchair ramp be built on a school building. Even then, you'll need the backing of the ACLU to sue for it.

My Congressman's excuse was "Congressmen can only enact laws, we can't enforce them" Then what use are Congressmen? If the laws we have aren't enforced, why do we need these fat slobs to make more of them?

I wonder if anyone has gotten fired because of their autism or LD and if they have sued? It costs money though to get a lawyer. I always get made fun of at work even though the co workers deny it.

Out of fairness, the "accommodation" an employer is expected to provide has to be "reasonable."

The problem is that "reasonable" has no clear definition. When the ADA was first put into place, lots of places were sued by lawyers looking for a quick check because they weren't wheelchair accessible...even though there was no handicapped person claiming of being discriminated against.

What Apple or IBM could afford to accommodate someone with a disability is not the same as a small company with only 50 employees. More so, some disabilities (like being in a wheelchair) have definitive needs to accommodate for. Autism can have varied needs from person to person.

The ADA was a nice idea, but in implementation, it really does more to hurt the disabled than help them. Unless you can identify how you need accommodation and show it doesn't put much of a burden on them, most employers are too afraid of the potential mess hiring a handicapped person might get them into.

In any case, there is no way the law will mandate an employer to hire someone who CAN NOT do the necessary duties of the job they apply for. If you CAN do the job with "reasonable accommodation," it is illegal to discriminate against them. The problem, again is in the definition of "reasonable accommodation."

You only have 180 days to file a lawsuit, which must be filed in Federal Court. But in order to do that, you have to go through any State agency involved with the School/Employer/Group that's accused of the discrimination, and that agency or agencies will perform their own bureaucratic investigation, which may take anywhere from two months to a year. By the time they finish foot-dragging, it may be too late to file a lawsuit under the ADA.

I was fired for my Autism regularly for thirty years, before I knew what it was. After what I've gone through the past two years, I don't think it would have made a bit of difference if I and my employers had known. As zer0netgain says, you'd still have to prove they fired you due to your Autism, and they could claim it was virtually anything else.

When you have a heart attack now, and it causes your employer's health insurance rates to go up, they wait for you to come back from hospital, give you a month or two to cover their asses, then 'downsize you' out of your job, because they can't legally fire you for health reasons (I've personally seen this happen twice). Any excuse will do, as long as it gets rid of the problem.

Heh, I just lost my job as a federal contractor.

It's a slippery slope: disclosure of a PDD spectrum problem might make OPM weary about clearing you, while not disclosing puts you at a disadvantage in the office.

Just know that if, say, you get your clearance, then lose your job, that said clearance is still available to you for 2 years. Too bad I can't just give you mine, I don't have much intention of using it again haha.

Well apparently from what I heard from a Dept of Justice employee, that contractors have NO accomondations. WHAT??? So how can people with learning disabilities, autism disorders, ADD succeed in life? How can people work full time? I have to train new staff that comes in, but what type of training? I can still train people. If they send me a PDF, I can email them any edits they need to make. I'm good at QA/QC peoples work looking for spelling errors, text size too big or too small, etc. I can't sit next to someone and train them. I can't stand in front of a small group of people and train them either. I have been playing piano for 20 years yet I can NEVER teach someone how to play piano. So I can't be force to train one on one or small group at all, right? I told my supervisor (My supervisor who works with same company as me)about my aspergers and LD, and he is willing to make me comfortable. It's sad when people with LD or aspergers get fired. That's ILLEGAL! No wonder people with LD or aspergers struggle through life:making friends, having a full time job. EVERYONE needs to work to feed themselves and to feed their families! It's the bigots out there that just love to fire people who are disabled. I can be a cleaning lady, I can flip burgers at McDonalds, I can be a Fed Govt employee, I still should get reasonable acommondations so that I can SUCCEED.
I work in DC, but our company's corporate office is in No VA. Our company is really small, not even 100 employees. I know being a contractor with any Fed Govt, is not safe. Contractors have gotten laid off and sometimes the contract can be completely gone.

You are a contractor, not an employee. The duties under the ADA do not apply. Most contract workers are employed by the company providing them...that company has to worry about ADA compliance.

On a similar note, I've seen temp agencies do similar things with sending people in, client decides they don't want the person sent to them for whatever reason and the temp agency sends someone else...however, you could wind up never getting a decent assignment because no client wants you.

They don't work for the government? Or maybe they define success differently than you.



There seem to be plenty of members here that have full-time jobs. Perhaps their symptoms are not as severe as yours or they've found a more forgiving employer than the US government.




These seem to contradict one another. You say you can train people, but then you describe editing and say you can't sit next to people and train them? How can you train them then? Via the internet or something? It just sounds to me like you don't have the ability to train people.



Uh, no. If you can't do the job at the level of quality required, you can certainly be fired. If you don't show up to work on time, you can certainly be fired. You seem to think that the idea behind the ADA is to make it impossible to fire impaired individuals. You are wrong. The idea is to provide "reasonable accommodation" - not a free pass. If there's no reasonable accommodation for you, then you're in the wrong job.

Unless things have changed, that is not totally accurate.

You have 180 days to take action. If you file a complaint with an appropriate agency (EEOC or state-equivalent agency), the clock stops. Once they say they won't pursue the matter or you get tired of waiting for them to do something, they will issue a "right to sue" letter which basically says you tried it their way and want to take matters into your own hands. Then the clock starts again. If you don't file suit in 180 days from that, you have no options.

The way EEOC and state agencies can screw you over is that they often sit on a case for a year or so....in that time, witnesses have moved on (or died) and memories get foggy. Employers have time to concoct a story to cover their buts if they acted blatantly. The flip side is that lawyers have no financial incentive to take your case on a contingency basis, so if you don't have the money to hire a good attorney, you go nowhere. I know a lawyer to handles discrimination cases, and she said (of the area where she practices) the courts were so favorable to the employer that even when she has the proverbial "smoking gun" proving the discrimination happens, she still has a good chance of losing the case.

Go to YouTube and watch Penn & Teller's BS episode on the ADA. Not totally scientific, but it showcases how the law has really done more to hurt the disabled than help them.

WOW I thought the responses here would be more friendly, so not friendly. WOW this website totally isn't worth it. Bye all.

Don't take things so personally. Would you rather be told the truth or hear what would make you feel better even though it's not true.

ADA simply is a giant mess. Unless you are on crutches or in a wheelchair, it makes no definitive statement as to what an employer must do for you and is so fraught with peril that it actually gives employers an incentive to not hire you if you have a disability.

No matter what, if you can't do the duties of the job because of your disability, then you can be refused the job or terminated from it.

Talked to a professor with a PHD and that is extreme experience with adults who have autism. A employee is an employee. So the Fed Govt should allow me to receive accommodations. So the co worker who told me I get no accommodations because I'm a contractor is a bigot. I wonder if it's ok to hurt someone back? With words? Maybe I will feel better?

A warning. A professor tends to be someone with lots of book knowledge and little to know "real life" experience.

The line between "employee" and "contractor" is generally defined under the law by how much independence you have to accomplish the goals given to you. The more tightly the HOW of doing a task is controlled by the "client," the less you are a contractor and the more you are an employee. This gets many businesses in trouble when they switch people to "independent contractor" status to avoid obligations, but courts still interpret labor vs. contract relationship fairly liberally in favor of the liberty to contract.

Contractors are not "employees" as defined under the law. Yes, in reality, they may be two and the same as far as the ends they serve, and many places hire "contractors" to avoid the mess they often must deal with if they hire an "employee."

Still, the key issue here is that even if you were an "employee" you'd still have the whole "reasonable accommodation" nonsense that makes the ADA next to worthless. Autism/AS is not a fixed disability with straightforward symptoms that can be universally adapted to. An "employer" has every right to question if any "accommodation" you require is "reasonable," and the law leaves it to the employer's discretion. If you are a "contractor" all the "client" needs to do is say, "I want this list of services performed. Can you do it?" If you say yes, but really can't do it because of your disability, then you are in breach of contract. If you can do it IF the client makes additional accommodations, then you are making a counteroffer, and the client is free to say, "NO" without any legal repercussions.

You can try and make a legal case of all this, but it will only cost YOU time, money, effort and leave you bitter in the long run.

I posted a bit of a snit over THIS THREAD (http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt121874.html) because the whole deal was that you had to be able to PROVE you had a disability for it to be of any use to you. Well, many with AS can't prove their disability because finding someone qualified to Dx AS is hard enough...affording it is yet another barrier. So, again, the help goes to the lucky few who got a Dx or can get a Dx. While I understand the practical side of requiring proof of disability to participate in the program, the guy in a wheelchair doesn't need a doctor's note...it's obvious he has a disability, and one (in this day and age) which is not a huge liability to career advancement. The guy with AS, however, needs expensive diagnostic testing to get some "expert" to say on paper that he really is disabled, and while otherwise able-bodied, he is drastically denied career opportunities because of how society looks at him.