Hi! I’m a Build A Bear employee. I am also multiply disabled. I am autistic, have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and vasovagal nerve damage in my heart resulting in a tachycardia condition. I am capable of doing all major job functions, but rely heavily on my service dog to mitigate the symptoms of all these conditions.
My job preformance starting from my first week has consistently exceeded preformance goals. This is documented by my workshop manager, and on written notes from supervisors. When I asked to bring my service dog with me on specific days, I was told I could not because they were afraid of the liability presented by having a dog present somewhere that works directly with children. I offered a strategy that would place my dog out of reach behind a waist-high door that is employee access only, where my dog could still do medically necessary alerts to preempt my symptoms so I can take precautions that protect my health and safety. When explaining this to my district manager, including my strategy to avoid their (illegal) fears of liability, I was told this was an undue hardship on the company.
Build a Bear store 218 in Gainesville, Florida is refusing to accommodate my disability, is refusing to document the conversation we had regarding accommodations and is refusing to note in my employment record that I am disabled.
Corporate is putting themselves in a highly defensible position of denying me the proof this conversation happened. I was denied the ability to record the conversation on an audio recording device. I was denied a memo containing a summary of the conversation, or even a document stating this conversation occurred. I have been forbidden to discuss this with any Build A Bear employees, management, or direct supervisors of any capacity going forward.
I will be pursuing legal action but doing so may put me out of my job. It’s important to me that I advocate for myself and others to defend my rights as a disabled person, and hopefully set a precedent going forward.
I don’t know what this will look like, what it will cost, or how it will impact my life. I’m very scared and need support in any way you can offer it either verbal, with advice, or with resources to assist me. Even signal boosting this would be very meaningful to me.
Please spread this far and wide if possible as I am unwilling to let corporate silence me on this matter.
If you would like to help me financially, which I would be grateful for, my paypal and Venmo will be posted below. All funds donated to me in response to this post will go to filling in for any lost wages resulting from this, and whatever legal fees I may accumulate. I’m willing to post screen shots of receipts upon request for full transparency.
My Venmo: @littleclairew
My paypal: clairewalchek@icloud.com
Thank you so much for taking time to read about this. I appreciate it so much.
