This month a former employee sued Clear Channel Outdoor after being dismissed for refusing to return to the office due to covid health concerns. The case is Fidago v Clear Channel Outdoor.
- Joseph Fidago was a Procurement Manager at Clear Channel’s Allentown office.
- Fidago had a satisfactory review in 2019 and July 2020 and never scored “below expectations” on any past reviews.
- Clear Channel Outdoor encouraged employees to come back to the office when Pennsylvania exited mandatory work from home rules on June 5, 2020.
- Fidago was advised by his doctor to work from home due to uncertainty as to how covid might interact with the patient’s epilepsy.
- Clear Channel Outdoor approved the employee’s work from home ADA accommodation in August 2020.
- In September 2020 Fidago was notified that Clear Channel was instituting a performance improvement plan against him due to a patter of poor performance.
- In November 2020 Fidago was terminated.
- Fidago claims that he was terminated due to an ADA accommodation request to continue working from home. He is suing for lost wages, damages and attorney fees.
Insider’s take: Billboard Insider wonders if this case started over bad medical advice: epilepsy does not increase the risk of getting covid; epilepsy does not increase the severity of covid; people with epilepsy are not considered immunocompromised. This from the Epilepsy Foundation. It is surprising, however, that an employee who had a satisfactory review in July 2020 was told he needed to improve in September 2020 and terminated in November 2020.
We’d love to hear from our attorney readers about what they think. Email davewestburg@billboardinsider.com or use the form below and we’ll do a followup post.
[wpforms id=”56784″]
Paid Advertisement
I think you should be very careful with your comment on Epilepsy. The effects that COVID can have on a person with seizures could be terrible. Maybe consult a doctor on this before publishing. Stick to billboards
No wonder why they can’t hire anyone at the airports division! Morty has to go!
The timeline doesn’t add up. From 2 years of fine reviews to a random performance plan…it typically takes many months to write up the plan, enact the plan, evaluate a period of time on the plan, and then take the HR action. Create it in September and terminate in November? I smell something fishy here.
I’d be curious to see their current employee outlook. Seems like a terrible place to work at with current management. Very odd timing of firing. Seemed premeditated and for reasons other performance. Hoping for a just outlook
Time for some changes @ Scott Wells
This whole thing screams trouble after clicking on the image and seeing the full document. Whoever Joseph Plott is needs to be gone. Definitely more behind this as someone else said. Hopeful for a positive outcome for the worker.