Eventually went from bad to worse. It was so stressful it caused a condition of mine to flair up. Long story short, I was vomiting blood and stomach acid on the daily in the mornings. Work from home would have accommodated me but they refused because the CEO was an asshole. He let others work from home as a "favor", but wouldn't meet medical needs.
After giving me more than one death threat, I finally quit and sued. Pro bono, of course, since I had no money.
They hired the most expensive defense firm in California to take the case over what would have been a $5-$10k settlement. My lawyer was unbelievably startled by this, and immediately dropped the case after.
Threatening to kill you is probably another claim beyond failing to reasonably accommodate your medical condition. It may also be a criminal threat that a prosecutor would be interested in. I would think that would strengthen your case.
> Pro bono, of course, since I had no money.
> ... My lawyer was unbelievably startled by this, and immediately dropped the case after.
Depending on what type of pro bono attorney you had, that may have been reasonable. For free legal aid type attorneys, litigation is out of the scope of what they can help with.
What you probably wanted was a lawyer who would take the case on a contingent fee basis. That means that they don't get paid anything unless you win, but if you do win they take 30-40%. Many plaintiff-side personal injury and employment lawyers like to work contingency because if they're good at it they can make way more money than an attorney working for an hourly rate. It's often a good deal for the plaintiffs too because they may get 60-70% of a much larger settlement amount.
It sounds like you got some bad advice.
Litigating against a company like the one he described would cost more than he would make even if he was paid on 100% contingency fee.
