Would you buy a service member lunch?  When I was in uniform, it was a common for strangers to offer to pay for a meal.  (We were told to politely decline because it might be considered unethical to accept.)  I am no longer in my service uniform.  If the years of service I provided mean anything, I will gladly accept your $10 contribution now.  That's all I need.  The cost of a lunch.

Our Track Record:  We already won two judgments in two related cases.  We reached a favorable settlement in a third related lawsuit.  We have received favorable pretrial decisions in the current lawsuit.  We don't intend to waste your money.    

BLUF (Bottom-Line Up Front):  For nearly thirty years, I first volunteered and then worked in civilian EMS and Fire.  I am also an honorably discharged military veteran who performed more than twenty years of service.  My military awards include the Combat Action Badge.  My fire-service sick leave benefits accumulated over my career were wrongfully taken from me six years ago and I have been taking legal action against my employer to get them back since then starting with a NYS Division of Human Rights complaint of workplace disability and military service discrimination.  Three years ago, after I received my right to sue letter, I again demanded that my employer return my sick days, but my employer told me that they get sued “all the time” and to go ahead and sue them.  In response, I did just that to protect my job.  Now, after a fire-fighting career of more than twenty years, I am sick with job-related injury and have been unable to work for the last six months.  My employer has denied most of my claims for work-related injury benefit.  One application has been put on an indefinite hold.  Another application was granted without benefit.  If I still had accumulated sick leave benefits, I would still have a paycheck while I wait for the wheels of government to function.  Now my employer demands that I pay them for money they unlawfully gave me (see my entry from yesterday below).  My short-term private disability insurance is unable to help me, because my injury is work-related.  I am being squeezed out of my ability to continue my lawsuit.  If I am unable to find significant funds within days or maybe weeks, I will be unable to continue with my lawsuit.  If I am unable to continue my lawsuit, I will lose my ability to receive a source of compensation which the law would otherwise provide.  I would be more than happy to come to a reasonable settlement with my employer.  I am asking for help to pay back the $17,806.14 my employer is demanding I pay by the end of this year.  I am also asking for help to continue with my lawsuit and to help others who are victimized by workplace discrimination resulting from their military service.

Our Heart-Felt Gratitude

Thank you for taking the time to consider our family's request for assistance!  Please let others know today about our situation!   --   The Potts Family    

November 09, 2022

As a professional firefighter Lieutenant and Paramedic, six years ago unfortunately I experienced some unexpected and undeserved difficulties at work.  I was compelled to start a series of legal actions to preserve my employment and protect my family when I nearly lost my job because of false allegations.  My health has diminished significantly under the undeserved stressors I was forced to contend with at work, all resulting from my attempt to take care of my elderly Mother, the widow of a 100% disabled combat veteran.

As a result of my need to defend against continued false allegations and employment discrimination, I have incurred more than $150,000 in on-going legal expenses and at this point seek only to recover my losses, having preserved my employment for the last six years.  Unfortunately, my public employer has not seen fit to meet me halfway and I must continue slogging on with my lawsuit.

My time in service to the military has given me a perspective that I have come to learn others in the civilian world do not share.  For me, the Army values of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage are not just words, but the bedrock of my soul.  When others left the service, I continued to serve another fourteen years out of sense of duty to my fellow service members.  As my guys would tell you, I was dedicated to help others learn from my experiences.   

I am proud of the service that the men I served with provided.  I remember we used to say, "Too easy!" whenever we were given a task.  But the truth of the matter is, it was not easy at all.  We represented the epitome of a professional military.  When others failed or faltered, we made it happen.  When we were asked to serve, we honored our obligation.  Some sacrificed more than others.  Although I was lucky, the men I served with escaped catastrophe by the narrowest margin one August night almost twenty years ago half-way around the world.  To my brothers who endured that night and to the many others who endured similar circumstances, I salute you.  Romeo!  To the families of the ones who were lost, I know there is no way we as Americans can ever fulfill our debt to you, but I will always try to live my life better, to serve more, because of the example of your loved ones.  Truly, we will never forget.

I blame the events that have harmed myself and my family on a failure of leadership.  During my careers, I have seen many examples of good and bad leadership.  Because of my military experience, I expect leaders to be held accountable for the actions of their subordinates, but I have found that is not always the case.  There is a cost, of course, to admitting your mistakes and some people, some entities, are not willing to be truthful.  They would do whatever they could to avoid being real leaders and take responsibility.  They would do whatever they could to try to conceal their mistakes.

I am happy to report that I have been able to take care of my mother for the last five years, and truth be told I would go through it all over again.  I would weather all the hard work and allegations against me because I love my mother.  She provided everything for us, and she deserves to be cared for in her old age in the same manner.  It's just that simple.  However, it hasn't been easy watching Mom slowly lose ground to dementia.  She lives with us, and we take care of her, but it has been extremely challenging and heartbreaking, as anyone who has been caretaker for a dementia victim knows all too well.  Despite the difficulties, we are grateful for the joy she continues to bring to our lives.  At this point in her life, she is often like a small child, full of wonder at the world around her, but incapable of understanding the impact of her illness.

My dad was not just my dad, he was my hero.  Dad also was a veteran who honorably served and deserved every attention and service that I could provide for him before he died from his service-related illness.

 During his tour, when he met my mother during an MWR (R&R) break in Hawaii, Dad could not stop shaking for the entire week they were together.  Like many returning veterans, Dad had been horrified by his combat experience, but it had been his duty to serve.  He moved forward, he sought a peaceful life.  He became involved in his small community.  When an irrational member of his rural community hit him in the face with his fist, Dad simply walked away.  There was no yellow-ribbon campaign, no congratulations on his service.  When he faced overwhelming discrimination based on his military service at his work, he left his excellent job with the New York State Department of Transportation.  He did not complain.

I served in a different conflict, but I benefitted from the laws that were put in place to protect veterans and service members facing discrimination in the decades after Vietnam ended.  Those federal and state laws were enacted to protect service members and veterans from discrimination like the discrimination my father experienced at his civilian workplace.  Frankly, after the experiences of my father, I would not have considered serving without the benefit of the protection of those laws.  However, I have learned that the protection of the laws is only as good as your ability to have the law enforced.  When you deal with unscrupulous people, it will cost you to have the laws enforced.  It will cost you money; it will cost you time; it will take a toll on your health; it will stress and challenge your family and your loved ones.  It may even cost you your hard-earned reputation.

When I started the campaign six years ago to keep my job and repute the false allegations made against me, I did so to protect myself and my family.  However, I have come to realize that my true motivation has been a sense of duty borne from my respect for the sacrifices of my fellow service members and first responders.  Unlike my father, I refuse to be silent.  I refuse to not stand up for the rights of myself and my fellow service members and first responders.  I will stand and defend our rights, so that we are stronger.  I will not be satisfied merely with lip-service, with politicians and bosses who say they support our service, but only when it is convenient or politically necessary.  I will not be satisfied with employers who seek to strip the rights of my fellow Americans who are always prepared to answer the call to service, in an instant, regardless of the cost.  I will not be quiet, because the heroes I have served with deserve to be allowed to do their jobs without harassment and the country they serve depends on their service, every minute, every hour of every day.

I ask you to help contribute to my campaign so that I may recover the losses I have had to endure because of my service.  Honestly, I need enough money to complete my lawsuit, whatever that may be.  I am asking at least 10,000 people to contribute $10 each.  I know there are many worthy causes to contribute to, and I certainly understand if circumstances do not allow you to contribute.  I will somehow find a way to keep on fighting, God help me, but first I would ask you to consider two things.

First, you may wonder why I am asking for $17,806; that is a lot less than the $100,000 or more I may need to complete my lawsuit.  Due to my work-related health problems, for the last six months I have been unable to work.  I thought I was being paid because of my injury, but when I learned that the money was a "gift", I had to notify the authorities of my concerns.  I guess you can consider me a whistleblower.  I was right, public employers cannot lawfully make gifts of taxpayer money.  Now my employer wants me to pay back the money that I received, and rightfully so.  I must pay it back, but after six years of costly legal battles because of my employer, I do not have the money to pay my employer the $17,806.

The first $17,806 that I receive will go back to honoring my obligation to my employer and to the taxpayer.  All remaining funds, if any, will go to complete my lawsuit.  The second thing I want you to consider is this:  after I either win or settle my lawsuit this coming year, it is my intention to continue to find ways to help first responders, military members, and veterans fight against workplace discrimination. 

As a result of my experiences, I have become aware of how difficult it is to get justice for these deserving members of our society, despite the laws that have been enacted to protect us.  The truth is, in our country most lawyers and politicians, unless they have served, will never get it.  They will never understand our sacrifice.  Most think we who serve are schmucks or rubes.  They will never help us simply because of our service.  They will only help us if it is in their interest.  Usually that means dollars.  As one lawyer told me succinctly, she works for “principal” (money), not “principle” (justice).  The benefits offered us in law are often nothing more than smoke and mirrors, which advertise a false opportunity to induce us to serve, to ignore the danger in which we put ourselves and our families.  Despite the many injustices of our legal system and our society, you should not have to lose your health, lose your job, lose all your income, lose your family, or lose your reputation simply because you stepped up to serve, simply because community was more important to you than money. 

Help me win my fight, our fight, and I pledge to spend my time and resources helping others like myself, like yourself, people like my father, make this country a place where honorable and diligent service members, veterans, and first responders can do their service, focus on protecting us, and not have to worry and wonder about whether or not we have their back or if they will be able to keep their job.

Thank you and God bless!

Shannon Potts

PS - Check back here for updates, to hear more of my story, and to follow our plans as we take action to help protect our first responders, service members, and veterans from workplace discrimination!

PSS – The photograph is of the grave marker for my great uncle, my father was his namesake.  My great uncle was an Army recon scout who died when a sniper killed him on the island of Mindanao a few months before the end of World War II.