Letter to Eleanor Holmes Norton: Public Policy -- Shifting Burden of Disability Benefits

Note that this letter was written about a week after the D.C. Court of Appeals issued its final judgment and opinion in Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, on September 1, 1998,  ending my litigation concerning my job termination by the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, on October 29, 1991.

My mental state as recorded by the letter is rational; the letter to Representative Norton is professional and business-like.  There is no evidence of anger or vindictiveness against the D.C. Courts or any judge.

September 8, 1998
3801 Connecticut Avenue, NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008-4530

Hon. Eleanor Holmes Norton
Northwest Constituent Service
815 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 783-5065

RE: Social Security Disability Claim xxx xx xxxx

Dear Representative Norton:

I enclose, for informational purposes only, and not in contemplation of any further action by Representative Norton, a copy of the Memorandum Opinion and Judgment issued by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on September 1, 1998 in Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, No. 96-CV-961, which affirmed a prior determination made by the D.C. Department of Human Rights that there was no probable cause to believe that the action of my former employer (the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld) in terminating my employment effective October 29, 1991 (the date my disability began) was based on anything other than a valid business reason: namely, that the employer had determined in consultation with a psychiatrist that I suffered from a psychiatric disorder that can be associated with a risk of violent behavior.

Also enclosed are several recent communications I have had with the U.S. Social Security Administration concerning this issue.

I believe that the enclosed documents are pertinent to a public policy concern that may be of interest to Representative Norton: namely, the action of an employer in failing to disclose to an employee facts that the employer had acquired relating to a serious medical problem, which disclosure by the employer might have permitted the employee to file a timely disability claim with the employer's private insurer rather than with the U.S. Social Security Administration. In my own case, by the time I had learned that the employer had determined that I suffered from a psychiatric disorder, I was time-barred from filing a disability claim with the employer's own insurer.

I thank you in advance for your review of the enclosed materials.

Sincerely,

Gary Freedman

cc: SSA