This is a story of people, American's, with no hope... nowhere to turn, and no representation.
I will relay this story in my perspective, fore I cannot speak the words of others suffering, but my story is the story of many, many American's. Maybe our maladies are different, our employers, our states, and our situations... but the result, the pain, the loss is the same. I heard a story about two alcoholics, one was a homeless man and the other a lawyer. These two men were at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, struggling with the disease of alcoholism. The lawyer had been sober for some time and reached out to the new man, the homeless man. The homeless man said to the lawyer, “How could you know how I feel? You are wealthy, have a home, a job, and a family.” The lawyer said to the man, “Before you came here, did you sit with a gun in your hand wanting to pull the trigger to end it all because you could not live one more day in this agony?” The homeless man looked at the lawyer shocked and replied, “Yes.” The lawyer said to the man, “I guess we are the same then.” This is what I am relaying to you.
I am a 36 year old woman, a single mother. I have worked since I was 14 years old. I became employed at AT&T on July 7th, 2008. August 2nd, 2009 I fell down my back stairs while doing laundry. It hurt, and I had thought I had given myself quite a jolt, but I thought little of the incident. As the days went by I started having more and more pain, nausea, numbness... yet I kept going to work. Finally, the following Saturday I was at work and in so much pain that after each customer left, I would go into the back office and lie on the floor holding my head and neck and rock. I felt as if I were being stabbed in the right eye, that there was a shoe string pulling from my eyebrow to the back of my neck, the right side of my neck, shoulder, and arm were numb yet screaming in pain. My Assistant Manager told my Manager that I needed to go to the hospital, but she said I was a closer and she had plans, I had to stay. By the time I managed to get home that evening I couldn't think... the pain was so bad, I couldn't manage to get up and get to the hospital. I laid in my bed and cried and rocked... by Sunday evening I could not stand it any longer and drove myself to the hospital. I could barely see to drive and had to bring a plastic garbage can because I would have to pull over and vomit every so often. They sent me for a CT scan and gave me a prescription for pain medication, I ended up going back and forth to the hospital every couple of days. I was a Union Employee and my mother came from Georgia to help me and read my contract. She said, “You are supposed have been furnished by your manager information to file for Short Term Disability.” I called my manager over and over, left messages and she didn't return my call. I called my Local President and he called her and left her a message. After being out a week, I received a text message with a phone number and nothing else. It ended up being the Disability department which was run by a 3rd Party company named Sedgwick CMS hired by AT&T to deal with these types of benefits.
I filed a claim. I called my case worker day after day and he was never in his office, and never returned my calls. I spent at least $200 in obtaining and faxing medical records to them. I would be accepted, then terminated, then appeal and wait 45 days for a determination without pay going back and forth to the hospital, trauma clinic, Neurosurgeon, General Practitioner, and Physical Therapy. On November the 12th I went in for surgery and what they had thought were to severely herniated discs turned out to be two shattered vertebra with fragments lying on my spinal cord, embedded in my C-6 nerve root and had to have a discectomy, cadaver bone implant, and a titanium plate and screws. Sedgwick demanded a copy of my surgical notes to be faxed by me the next day. I was quarantined at home following my surgery due to the very high risk of infection. They would not send for them. I had to have them faxed and could not leave the house. Needless to say Sedgwick “manufactured” statements from my Neurosurgeon, my Doctor of Physical Therapy, and my Internist and printed them in a letter denying my disability on the basis of these fabricated statements. When I supplied letters from these doctor's directly denying these statements and proving these to be complete fabrication to my case worker's supervisor, she did nothing. So I went to her supervisor, then to my manager, my benefits coordinator, and the CEO of AT&T Mobility Division Randall Stephenson. Also, all the while trying to get my Union to represent me all the way to the National office in Washington D.C. without so much as an email response or returned telephone call.
My last disability check was the second week of January, for $145.00(minus Union Dues). I appealed on the basis of misconduct and provided the medical documentation to support my inability to return to work, the length of time from injury to surgery led to some serious nerve complications. On April of 2010 I was sent a final denial letter, Sedgwick said their “doctors” reviewed my documentation and determined, despite that my Neurosurgeon, Dr. of PT, and Internist deemed me disabled and unable to return to work at that time, and despite the misconduct, and blatant lies by my caseworker, that I was not disabled and if I did not return to work Against Medical Advise by May the 3rd, I would be terminated for “Job Abandonment”. I sent emails to Randall Stephenson, my Manager, my Benefits Coordinator, and the CWA District President, pleading that they investigate the misconduct, review my documentation and reinstate my benefits. I received one email, from my Benefits Coordinator. She apologized and said there was nothing they could do and I would receive my last check within two weeks.
During all these months without pay I tried to access my Paid Time Off days and my two weeks of vacation pay and was told I could not because I was technically still on disability. When two weeks had passed and I still had not received my check, I called payroll and they said they “thought” the check had been mailed, but could not tell me anything, that I had to go through my Manager. So, again I attempted to contact my Manager and my Benefits Coordinator. My Benefits Coordinator emailed me back informing me that my vacation time had expired and so did my PTO and I would not be receiving a final check.
I have written to the President, called my Congressman, contacted the NC Insurance Division, wrote to MoveOn, to NOW, to newspapers. I was informed by the NC Insurance Division that there is no government entity that oversees these 3rd party companies and that I would have to get a lawyer. The rest, well... I never heard back from any of them. There is one lawyer in Asheville that deals with ERISA law and she costs $200 per hour and told me that it would be a minimum of 3 hours just to review my medical records. I was told by all the other lawyer I contacted, that “There was just no money in that kind of law.”.
My son and I lost our insurance and I had to go without treatment for 2 months while the state of North Carolina determined whether or not I was eligible for insurance. I obtained food stamps, but those were cut off because someone in the office made a clerical error and took a “Contribution” form that was supposed to go to my Food Stamp worker and gave it to my Medicaid worker. I cannot get Unemployment because I was informed by ESC that I am not employable and that AT&T says I quit. I cannot get welfare because my son is 18 and I am not pregnant. I cannot get financial assistance from non-profit organizations because they only give you $100 towards your rent, but only if you can prove you can come up with the rest of it, I cannot get help with my utilities because they are in my landlords name even though she wrote a letter and I brought a copy of my monthly invoice stating that I am responsible for them. I applied for SSI/SSDI in March and it is now October and I still have heard nothing, my caseworker says it is still in determination. Then I went to the pharmacy to get a vital prescription filled to find out that within the last month Medicaid has made changes and that medication has to be pre-certified. That my doctor has to fill out a form to explain the medical necessity of the medication and then someone behind a desk in Raleigh will determine whether I really need it or not. This is a two week process and I can only refill this medication on my last day... so I had to borrow $200 from my best friend to pay for my prescription, yes... it cost $200. I will not be reimbursed because I didn't wait for someone to say yes or no. My doctor did not even know this change.
I have nothing. I cannot help my son, so he had to move to Georgia with my mother. My mother is retired and had to get a job to pay my bills and care for my son. Why don't I move to Georgia you ask? Because I would have to apply for all of these things all over again.
AT&T, Sedgwick CMS, CWA Union, and our government has ruined me. Our government is aware of the conduct of Sedgwick CMS because that company and several others like it have lawsuit upon lawsuit pending over this type of conduct, yet it continues to go unchecked. There is no government help, no non-profit help, no Union help... no interest in this whatsoever.
There are people out there, thousands upon thousands of them in my situation. However, I'd hazard to guess that less than 2% of them have families like mine. A parent that would put herself in financial ruin at the point in her life she is supposed to be able, after 40 years of teaching, to relax and enjoy her retirement... but has spent most of it, and gone back to work to support her disabled daughter and her grandson. If it had not been for my family and my best friend, I would not be writing this letter. I would be dead. At 36 years of age I would have taken my own life because there was nothing left and no one to turn to, only chronic pain and poverty. I wouldn't even have been able to live in my car, not only can't I drive... but I wouldn't have been able to pay a tag fee and my car would have been towed for being illegal.
So... whomever reads this letter, I beseech you, get this out. Look up Sedgwick CMS on Google, see what you find, read about the horrors this company has committed and all of the people suffering like me. Contact your local Government Officials, write letters to the President, to the newspapers, get the word out. Don't let these Big Business' destroy the fabric of this country, the people... we are people. We are not something to be dropped in a crack and walked over without thought or care... we are your sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles... we are your children. Help us.
