how is spoliation proven in court?

Question

I have sued my former workplace for discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

About ten or eleven years ago I got a note from my doctor stating I have depression with panic attacks and that I should not be subjected to unnecessary stress. I had just gotten a new supervisor and her treatment of me was causing my symptoms to get worse. Once I got the note from my psychiatrist, my boss backed off and we got along reasonably well for the next ten years.

Then suddenly the harassment started again--not just my supervisor, her boss (the CEO) and the director of HR were also involved. When it was starting to get bad I asked the HR director if a new doctor's note was needed since the original was so old and he said it wasn't needed, the old note was enough. Later, he denied any such doctor's letter ever existed.

I had kept a copy of the doctor's letter all these years, but unfortunately, I kept it at my work desk. I was placed on administrative leave due to spurious allegations and I was never allowed back access to my belongings again until I was fired. My bosses' secretary went through my stuff and backed it in boxes. The copy of the doctor's note is also gone.

Both my personnel file and the papers at my work desk included documents dating back to 1996 but the doctor's note from 2003 or 2004 is gone.

I feel incredibly stupid for not keeping a copy of the note at home, but I followed what I was told to do by the EEOC--get a note from my doctor give it to my boss and HR.

Slickterp · Accepted Answer

Good luck.  Retaliation isn't illegal.  They have no obligation to abide your doctor's note, certainly not one that is 10 years old.  You can be fired for any reason or none at all.

Unless you can PROVE you were fired BECAUSE of your disability, you won't get anywhere.  The fact that you have no old note and no new one isn't going to go well for you.

Pablo · Answer

Get another copy from the doc. Get the notes from the doc the day he wrote the note.  Destruction of personal property is wrong.  Many companies ask you to sign an agreement that states that all the information you gain in the company like proprietary stuff and your own intellectual property  belongs to the company. Even if you did that your personal health is of no concern to them. You doc could verify and send three copies based on the notes from that day and the doctor should do that for little or nothing especially if your file has a copy.

majnun99 · Answer

The doctor is no longer in business and I'm unable to find her. She may be dead or maybe she moved to another country. It's an issue about the actual note I received in 2003 or 2004. I already got a note from my new doctor in 2013. Now they are claiming they didn't know about my mental health condition all these years. In reality the HR director is fully aware of it and he is fully aware that I was given so much stress that I nearly killed myself. I know he is fully aware because I told him to his face and I showed him the bruise on my head that I gave myself. His explanation was "a lot of people go through stress like this."

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how is spoliation proven in court?

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