A laid-off Iowa Workforce Development worker is suing the state-owned company for alleged disability discrimination similar to the fitness hazards she faces due to COVID-19.
IWD is the statewide company committed to helping Iowans with disabilities and keeping their jobs.
In her lawsuit against the agency, Kirstin Born of Polk County claims she began running for the IWD in 2003. In 2015, he was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis, which is treated with daily medications and regular infusions.
In March 2020, as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IWD began allowing its painters to paint remotely from home. At that point, Born began working 55 to 60 hours a week, depending on his demand, performing not only his same old responsibilities. but also a wide diversity of responsibilities similar to an unprecedented backlog of unemployment claims processed through the IWD.
Born won the two-dose Moderna vaccine in March and April 2021, according to its lawsuit, and in May 2021, the IWD and state agencies announced the reopening of their offices and the end of remote work.
However, the lawsuit alleges that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Born IWD workplace and that the maximum number of staff in the agency’s unemployment department were able to continue working remotely through the fall of 2021.
On June 4, 2021, tests showed that Born had not produced antibodies after her vaccination, leaving her virtually unprotected against the COVID-19 virus. The virus posed a specific threat to Born because of the weakening of his immune formula due to his medications. said his demand.
On June 7, 2021, according to the lawsuit, Born sent her manager a copy of her vaccination card and lab paints to document the danger COVID-19 posed to her and asked to be allowed to continue working remotely until she could be revaccinated. . Again.
The lawsuit claims the request was denied on June 16 and subsequently after Born submitted the records of his neurologist and hematologist.
Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, called IWD Director Beth Townsend on Born’s behalf, asking that he be allowed to paint from home in light of his concerns about his fitness, according to the lawsuit. Extension of week to get vaccinated and return to the office.
Born alleges that his vaccination was delayed while he was in the middle of an immunosuppressant infusion and that he continued to work from home and then took credit for the Family Medical Leave Act and took 8 weeks of unpaid leave. While on leave, she earned two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and learned that it had not yet produced antibodies to protect her from the virus. She again asked to be allowed to continue running away from home, but the IWD rejected all requests, according to her lawsuit.
On Oct. 12, 2021, Petersen sent an email to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ chief of staff, expressing fear that the state’s refusal to allow Born to paint remotely would give the impression of disability-based discrimination. Petersen never got a reaction from the governor’s office. according to the demand.
After Born sent IWD a formal request for a disability accommodation to work remotely, the company informed Born that he had to file no later than 8 a. m. m. at her painting station the next day, where plexiglass and an air cleanup were ready for her. specify if Born returned to the office, but says the IWD fired her on Dec. 17, 2021.
His lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, seeks unspecified damages for disability-based discrimination in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act and retaliation in reaction to his request for hotels for his disability. The IWD has yet to file a reaction to the allegations.
by Clark Kauffman, Iowa Capital Dispatch September 25, 2023
A laid-off Iowa Workforce Development worker is suing the state-owned company for alleged disability discrimination similar to the fitness hazards she faces due to COVID-19.
IWD is the statewide company committed to helping Iowans with disabilities and keeping their jobs.
In her lawsuit against the agency, Kirstin Born of Polk County claims she began running for the IWD in 2003. In 2015, he was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, myasthenia gravis, which is treated with daily medications and regular infusions.
In March 2020, as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IWD began allowing its painters to paint remotely from home. At that point, Born began working 55 to 60 hours a week, depending on his demand, performing not only his same old responsibilities. but also a wide diversity of responsibilities similar to an unprecedented backlog of unemployment claims processed through the IWD.
Born won the two-dose Moderna vaccine in March and April 2021, according to its lawsuit, and in May 2021, the IWD and state agencies announced the reopening of their offices and the end of remote work.
However, the lawsuit alleges that there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Born IWD workplace and that the maximum number of staff in the agency’s unemployment department were able to continue working remotely through the fall of 2021.
On June 4, 2021, tests showed that Born had not produced antibodies after her vaccination, leaving her virtually unprotected against the COVID-19 virus. The virus posed a specific threat to Born because of the weakening of his immune formula due to his medications. said his demand.
On June 7, 2021, according to the lawsuit, Born sent her manager a copy of her vaccination card and lab paints to document the danger COVID-19 posed to her and asked to be allowed to continue working remotely until she could be revaccinated. . Again.
The lawsuit claims the request was denied on June 16 and subsequently after Born submitted the records of his neurologist and hematologist.
Iowa Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, called IWD Director Beth Townsend on Born’s behalf, asking that he be allowed to paint from home in light of his concerns about his fitness, according to the lawsuit. Extension of week to get vaccinated and return to the office.
Born alleges that his vaccination was delayed while he was in the middle of an immunosuppressant infusion and that he continued to work from home and then took credit for the Family Medical Leave Act and took 8 weeks of unpaid leave. While on leave, she earned two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and learned that it had not yet produced antibodies to protect her from the virus. She again asked to be allowed to continue running away from home, but the IWD rejected all requests, according to her lawsuit.
On Oct. 12, 2021, Petersen sent an email to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ chief of staff, expressing fear that the state’s refusal to allow Born to paint remotely would give the impression of disability-based discrimination. Petersen never got a reaction from the governor’s office. according to the demand.
After Born sent IWD a formal request for a disability accommodation to work remotely, the company informed Born that he had to file no later than 8 a. m. m. at her painting station the next day, where plexiglass and an air cleanup were ready for her. specify if Born returned to the office, but says the IWD fired her on Dec. 17, 2021.
His lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court, seeks unspecified damages for disability-based discrimination in violation of the Iowa Civil Rights Act and retaliation in reaction to his request for hotels for his disability. The IWD has yet to file a reaction to the allegations.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is owned by States Newsroom, a network of grant-funded news bureaus and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains its editorial independence. If you have questions, please contact Editor Kathie Obradovich: info@iowacapitaldispatch. com. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.
Assistant editor Clark Kauffman has worked for more than 30 years as an investigative journalist and columnist for two of Iowa’s most important newspapers, the Des Moines Register and the Quad-City Times. He has won national and national awards for his reporting and editorial writing.
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