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THE FACTS
Paul Cronan, an employee of the New England Telephone Company (NET), began to exhibit symptoms of AIDS-related complex (ARC) sometime around the beginning of 1985. ... These concerns ultimately led to Cronan divulging the nature of his illness to his direct supervisor, under what Cronan assumed was the strictest of confidence. However, the information did become public, at which time other NET employees began to demonstrate anxiety over the possibility of contracting this disease from Cronan. This fear led to the utterance of threats toward Cronan and fearing for his safety, led Cronan to notify his NET supervisor that he would not be reporting to work and to request medical leave. The request was granted and shortly thereafter, Cronan’s personal physician provided NET with a medical certificate of disability, allowing Cronan to obtain disability benefits. After a period of deteriorating health, recovery, and a request to return to work in a new position where he felt less threatened by fellow employees and eventually hospitalization, Cronan felt compelled to sue NET, alleging discrimination due to his disability. Ultimately, Cronan settled the case with NET out of court and reached an agreement that allowed him to return to work and the company to deny all allegations and admit no wrongdoing.
Upon his return to work, Cronan was met with an air of fear and hostility from his co-workers, as concern for their personal health outweighed the sympathy they felt for Cronan. Cronan was exposed to harassment and threats from his fellow employees and was treated “like a leper” due to his disease and gay sexuality. Cronan was ostracized, with the harassment culminating in 29 employees walking off their jobs to protest Cronan’s return to work and demonstrate their fear of association with the AIDS victim.
Throughout this entire ordeal, NET acted in such a manner as to protect the company, rather than protect Cronan and other employees. Although NET attempted to edit company policies and educate employees about this disability, every action was in reaction to a specific event and always done in such a manner as to attempt to provide the company with maximum protection from eventual litigation. NET made every attempt to legally, although perhaps not ethically, to compel Cronan to leave the employment of the firm. The company stalled court proceedings through jurisdictional challenges and failed to respond to Cronan’s request for return to work and transfer. Through a failure to safeguard confidential medical information, the company allowed the exposure of Cronan’s condition to other employees of the company. Further, by lack of action against the offending employees, NET allowed Cronan to continue to suffer harassment from his co-workers, resulting in a violation of his basic civil rights, where the company has a responsibility to provide a safe workplace.
LEGAL ISSUES SURROUNDING THE CASE
There are a number of legal issues and items surrounding the Cronan case, principally evolving discrimination by NET against Cronan due to a disability. ... Laws are intended to keep the peace, protect personal freedom, facilitate the proper enacting of business through contract law, promote economic growth by establishing anti-trust legislation, protect the environment and in the case of Cronan, promote social justice. ...
Non-discriminatory means the employer has terminated similarly situated employees for the same reason and has not discriminated based on protected group status, such as in the case of Paul Cronan. ... Therefore, a state of fear surrounded Cronan, his co-workers and NET in general. ... Never having dealt with such an event, NET possessed no such history to show Cronan had been treated in a non-discriminatory manner as compared with workers with similar disabilities, as specified in the ADA legislation.
Approximate Word count = 2949
Approximate Pages = 11.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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