This article is unreal. A woman who falls a sleep at her job five times, has been suspended and reprimanded in the past for it.. AND steals a company vehicle.. She is crying discrimination & wants her job back! This is too good! I included the article in full because it is that insane.. enjoy…

RALEIGH — Elsie Hinton is fighting to get back her job at the state Department of Transportation after being fired for sleeping on the job — five times.

Agency officials dismissed Hinton, who was an artist in the department’s communications office, after a sleep episode last July. She had received four prior warnings about nodding off, dating to 2003, according to documents filed with the state Office of Administrative Hearings, which is handling Hinton’s effort to get her job back. She was suspended without pay in 2006 for sleeping on the job.

Hinton’s case came to a head as she dozed in her cubicle last summer.

Three supervisors and her office manager gathered as witnesses. One took photos with a cell phone and filed a report that chronicled Hinton’s four-minute, head-bobbing slumber as the work day began.

Hinton’s dismissal was also based on using a department van without approval, according to state documents.

The theft of a vehicle, along with the theft of the employers time.. this woman wants her job back?

Hinton, who was paid $55,200 a year, says she has sleep apnea, which prevents her from getting uninterrupted sleep. She uses a breathing mask and special device at night to help her sleep, but the device was malfunctioning, leading to the nap that got her fired, Hinton wrote in a statement submitted with her complaint.

She says her bosses knew of her condition and she has filed a discrimination complaint based on a "handicapping condition."

Efforts to reach Hinton on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Her attorney, John Campion of Raleigh, said Hinton had no control over falling asleep at her desk. "The problem with sleep apnea is you really don’t get a good night’s sleep," Campion said, likening the condition to epilepsy.

I have personally dealt with sleep issues, and epilepsy. Plus,  I have friends with sleep apnea. I also know people with the BIGGEST sleep disturbance, called children, and fireman, and doctors. People who have their sleep constantly interrupted due to a child’s needs or an emergency call.

With epilepsy, there is no warning of a seizure.. and seriously disturbing that they even dared to relate the two.

Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, offered no sympathy.

"There are lots of people in North Carolina, inside or outside the state work force, who have sleep apnea and that’s not an excuse for sleeping while on duty," Cope said. "When performance of a state employee is found to be not up to standard … we’re not going to defend them. It sounds like the absolute right thing was done in this case."

Sleeping caught on camera

Transportation officials chronicled Hinton’s final sleeping episode last July in a memo and subsequent letter to Hinton in the file at the Office of Administrative Hearings. Communications Director Ernie Seneca wrote to Hinton last August that she was observed at 8:58 a.m. "with your head leaned backward as you sat in your chair in your cubicle."

The sleeping went on for four minutes, Seneca wrote.

Seneca observed the slumber. Then he called over his deputy, Nicole Burris, who observed the sleeping. Hinton’s supervisor and the office manager were called over.

"I took several photographs of you sleeping with my cell phone camera," Seneca wrote.

Department officials would not release the photographs, saying they were not public records because they are part of Hinton’s personnel file.

Seneca described Hinton stirring, and wrote that after he spoke to her she "shuffled some papers" on her desk and didn’t respond to him. Hinton later asked to leave for the day.

Hinton’s statement filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings said she was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2006 and she required a new mask every six months to ensure a tight fit. At the time of the July incident, she said, her new mask was not sealing properly, so her sleep was interrupted.

The sleeping at work had been reported since 2003, yet she was not diagnosed till 3 years later. Now most people if their sleep issues started affecting their work, getting in trouble and especially if they began to fall asleep at work.. I would expect that person also would have been seeking medical help sooner than 3 years later!

The excuses in this story do not hold water!

"This caused me to be drowsy at work and caused me to involuntarily drop off to sleep for about four minutes," Hinton wrote. "As a result, [the department] terminated my employment."

Hinton wrote that she had asked her supervisor for three days off until the new mask arrived, but her request was refused.

She was probably refused the time off since she kept getting caught sleeping at work. The employer was also wise to have the firing based on the vehicle theft.. since there are too many idiots out there who think she should be allowed to sleep & get paid.

The case has been scheduled for a hearing in November.

Dozing employee wants her job back – Politics – News & Observer

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