[The subject line is the NEWSWire topic in today’s newswire.]
As a vet and railfan; I found this one to be a potential game changer in todays railroad world.
The subject was hired and working as a full employee of UPRR in NLR Ar. Was also a member of the Army(Ark) National Guard. Leaves active UPR employment to go on a deployment for 5 years. While on deployment he suffers ‘injuries’ culmanating in his diagnosis of PTSD and also a’brain injury’(?) and his medical discharge.
Returns to work at UPR where he is re-hired, and works without any ‘special work needs,requests’(?).
At some point he is promoted from conductor to engineer. and then suffers ‘issues’ around his PTSD disgnosis/ military diagnoses(?). A Therepist recomends that he get a ‘service dog’ to help him cope with the issues around his service injuries. That is, apparently, the point at which , the UPR ‘denied his request’ to have his service dog at work (?)
So then the employee has no other route than to file a lawsuit, under The Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Amore detailed account is in the TRAINS NEWSWire, and the linked article from The Arkansas Gazette article. Looks like one of thiose things that whatever way it is decided in Court; it will potentially, have wide ramifications.
They refer mostly to the same usage. Service dogs are trained to assist folks with a diagnosed disability. Therapy dogs are a subset used for people with a diagnosed mental health condition in which a companion dog reduces anxiety.
Maybe this varies from state to state, but a service dog can go about anywhere, but the other can be asked to leave? Could be wrong there. BTW- I can’t find the link to this article.
In some states anyone can get a pet named as a “companion”. Allows you to have a pet in otherwise non-pet places. It is heavily abused and that’s why various states are cracking down on it.
Not at all. What alphas said and what I concur with is in too many cases it seems to be the nature of some to abuse a priviledge when that priviledge is extended.
And as far as I know the admission of service and therapy dogs to business establishments is a priviledge, not a right. Most places extend the priviledge gladly because it’s the right thing to do and it’s good for business as well.
By the way, I’m all in favor of that UP engineer having his therapy dog on board. Why not? Animals as “train crew” used to be an old railroad tradition. Dogs, cats, parrots, ducks, and bunny rabbits used to be quite common as pets of the train crews.
Fear of unknown possible ramifications of allowing an animal on a train by UP may be the reason for denying request. But I expect they will loose this case. Typical management fear of change and setting precients.
We talk a lot here about vetting potential crew members. Would this fellow pass the initial vetting as a new hire?
I understand the PTSD thing and sympathize with it. But at some point we need to ask if we want someone whose condition calls for a service/support animal at the controls of a 15,000 foot train of crude oil…
What happens if the other person in the cab has a severe dog allergy? Serious question as I know people with dog allergies.
With respect to service versus therapy dogs, service dogs typically get a lot more training than therapy dogs and this are allowed in places where therapy dogs can be excluded.
Not sure the ADA applies here. Railroads have their own federal regulatory regime, and and it could be that FRA regulations (however they might pertain to this situation) would supercede the ADA (I am no lawyer and do not know for sure one way or the other). ADA has been around for some 30 years and the RRs have not had to make locomtive cabs accessible to wheel chairs yet.
How is it that he worked as a Conductor without need for the therapy animal. but now that he is an engineer he needs the animal.
Why aren’t effective treatments being developed for PTSD, rather changing all the surroundings around a individual with PTSD.
PTSD individuals need treatment and therapy to allow them to function in society as it exists rather than to change everything in society.
VA personnel heed to be enhanced with more therapists with more training and more funding to assist the multitude of servicemen whose service placed them in the positions that generate PTSD. Private helthcare plans need to cover PTSD, not just brush it aside as most do these days.
Healthcare needs to be all about HEALTH, not about profit.
If you can’t emotionally handle the stress of ‘promotion’ to the other side of the engine it is time to look for another form of work - within or without your present employer.
Personally, I don’t see how a ‘support animal’ will assist the person to make correct decisions at the proper times in the operation of a locomotive and the train which it will be hauling.
I suspect this situation has been created by the ‘mandatory promotion’ provisions that were written into the contracts that apply to Conductors in the 1990’s and 21st Century.