I applied for disability benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration on April 20, 1993. I advised SSA of infirmities in my former employer's determination that I suffered from a severe mental illness that rendered me unemployable. SSA granted my claim for benefits effective August 17, 1993. It was not until September 24, 1993 -- about five weeks later -- that the D.C. Department of Human Rights issued its Determination on Reconsideration rejecting my arguments that my job termination was unlawful and rejecting written evidence that I had submitted to the agency tending to show that Akin Gump did not in fact consult Gertrude R. Ticho, M.D. or the Sheppard Pratt Employee Assistance Program, who supposedly concurred in the firm's decision to terminate my employment for mental health reasons. As of August 1993 Akin Gump had an outstanding invitation to mediate the unlawful job termination Complaint issued by DHR on February 4, 1992.
On about October 29, 1991 -- the date of my job termination -- my former direct supervisor at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Chris Robertson, made false, self-serving and defamatory statements tending to show that I was not suitable for employment under Social Security rules in that I posed a "direct threat" in the workplace. Robertson's statements were made during working hours on the firm's premises to other employees in the course of her employment as a supervisor who reported directly to R. Bruce McLean, a member of the firm's management committee. Presumably, common-law principles of agency apply that impute Robertson's actions and statements to her supervisor (principal), McLean, a senior firm manager.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-did-bruce-mclean-not-know-and-why.html
July 2, 1993
3801 Connecticut Ave., NW
#136
Washington, DC 20008
Fay E. Peterson
Disability Claims Examiner
District of Columbia
Rehabilitation Services Administration
Disability Determination Division
P.O. Box 37608
Washington, DC 20013
Re: Disability Claim xxx-xx-xxxx
Dear Ms. Peterson:
I offer the following statement in support of the above-referenced disability claim.
On the evening of July 1, 1993 I placed a telephone call to one of my former co-workers, Ms. Patricia McNeil, at my last place of employment, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Ms. McNeil advised me that immediately after my termination, my supervisor, Chris Robertson, had all the keys to the office changed because of her fears that I was homicidal. Ms. McNeil stated that Chris Robertson, in about late October 1991, warned her employees, including Ms. McNeil, that I was potentially homicidal.
Ms. McNeil stated: "The only thing I knew is that Chris [Robertson] sent the E-mail over the system, and she wanted all of us in the office, and the next thing, she said, 'no, forget about it.' She said, 'Well, you all know that Gary, he's gone, and they're coming to change the locks because Gary may come back and he may kill me or something.'"
"All I know, Chris [Robertson] called a meeting. She had sent an E-mail. And then, all of a sudden she canceled the meeting. She just said, 'Oh.' And she said, 'they're coming to change the locks. They should be down here because we're afraid he may come down here and try to kill us or something.'"
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
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Letter sent to D.C. Corporation Counsel, U.S. Attorney Holder, and D.C. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Annice Wagner:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/10/akin-gump-circumstantial-evidence-of.html
Circumstantial evidence memorialized in September 1992 and submitted to SSA tending to show that Robertson's statements and actions following my job termination were self-serving, malicious and defamatory:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/03/social-security-document-submission_04.html
Coworker Pat McNeil's report about my employability and Dennis Race's investigation of my harassment complaint:
On the evening of July 1, 1993 I spoke by telephone with a former Akin Gump coworker, Patricia McNeil. Summarized below are selected, material comments made by Pat McNeil. I supplied a copy of the tape recording of the phone call to the DC Corporation Counsel, the U.S. Secret Service, and the D.C. Police (Second District, Officer J.E. Williams, Badge 1226).
1. I thought you were a very professional person, a quiet person, who stayed to himself. I respected that. Some people are just not people-oriented.
2. I never thought you were a violent person.
3. [Noting that I posted therapists' appointment cards at my desk:] I heard people say, "He must be crazy, he's always going to a psychiatrist."
4. [Quoting comments by another coworker, Carletta Diggins, concerning my termination:] Carletta said, "I wonder what they did to Gary? Gary was such a nice person. He was really a quiet person. He didn't bother anyone." I told Carletta, "as good of a person as Gary is -- his work speaks for itself, it couldn't have been his work -- what did he do?" She said, "I don't know, Pat."
5. [States facetiously:] All of a sudden you became this crazy person. When you were hired you weren't crazy. When do you think you became crazy?
6. [Concerning Dennis Race's investigation of my allegation of harassment:] Dennis Race didn't question anybody in the Department. He never talked to me. If he did an investigation, wouldn't you think that he'd have talked to various ones in the Department? I don't know of anyone in the Department he talked to. Maybe he only talked to selected people Chris Robertson picked, Chris' favorites. [Note that Pat McNeil's conjecture suggests a violation by my supervisor, Chris Robertson, of D.C. Code sec. 1-2525(b), prohibiting the aiding or abetting of retaliation.]
7. All I know is that Chris said, "You all know that Gary is gone. And they're coming to change the locks, because we're afraid Gary may come back and he may try to kill me." I never pictured you to be a person who would do something like that.
8. Lutheria Harrison and Sherri Ann Patrick were promoted to paralegals. [Lutheria Harrison and Sherri Ann Patrick fit in the category of "Chris Robertson's favorites."]
Freedman v. D.C. Dept. of Human Rights, Record at 41.
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