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Bell South Service Rep Wins Comp Case for Stress
Teresa Y. Williford has earned a place in the history books, becoming the first person to ever win a worker’s compensation case based on mental stress against a major telecommunications company.
A North Carolina Industrial Commis-sion deputy commissioner found that Williford, a BellSouth customer service representative for a decade, was suffering from a “major depression” with thoughts of suicide as a result of problems caused by “occupational disease.”
The commissioner ordered BellSouth to pay Williford’s medical bills, to give her thousands in back pay, plus $444 a week until she is healthy enough to work again. The company is appealing the decision, said CWA Representative Wallace Weaver, who was called to testify at Williford’s hearing.
Attorney Sally Metz Keith, a former nurse who represented Williford, said her client was terminated from her $655-a-week job as a customer service rep in March 1996. She had last worked for the company in January 1996. NCIC Deputy Commissioner Morgan S. Chapman handed down her ruling last Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.
Williford told the CWA News she hopes the ruling will cause some management at BellSouth to take a hard look at the results of their downsizing efforts and the pressure that has been put on workers like herself.
The complement of service reps in Williford’s office was reduced from 60 to 33 during the last several years — although targets and goals have remained at the same level, with no relief, according to Paul Jones, president of CWA Local 3611, Raleigh.
Williford told Joe Dew, a staff writer for the Raleigh News & Observer, she pursued her case vigorously through the legal system because she had come to feel abused by the company and its management style.
“When we started out with this, I wanted to let BellSouth know how I felt about the way they treat their employees,” she said. “New people come in. They are bright. They are energetic . . . and over a matter of years, they see their health go downhill.
“This is what the job does to them.”
Jones, the local president, described Williford as a hard-working union steward and BellSouth employee who became so stressed that she occasionally administered insulin shots to herself to combat diabetes while still at her desk.
Chapman, the NCIC deputy commissioner, ruled that the diabetes was not job-related, but found that her mental condition and suicidal thoughts were a result of job pressures.
The pressure, Chapman found, came from supervisors who urged workers to “get off of a call as quickly as possible on the one hand but to sell as many services as possible on the other.”
In a key part of the 13-page opinion, Chapman said:
“The work environment for the service reps was very stressful due to the almost unattainable expectations of the company, the excessive hours, the unpredictable schedules and the harsh monitoring procedures.
“It was not uncommon to see one of the service reps leaving the room in tears. The situation was especially difficult for plaintiff (Williford) with her medical condition when she worked for a supervisor named Betty, who was unsympathetic and unsupportive. There were times when plaintiff had to work as many as 12 days in a row. She was married and had two children, one of whom was a teenager, so she had other responsibilities which she could not attend to during those extended periods at work and, when she finally got time off, she was too tired to deal effectively with problems at home.”
Chapman went on to say that Williford wanted to do well at her job and that when she worked hard but couldn’t meet expectations, “she began to doubt herself, feel increasingly hopeless and lose self esteem.”
Jones, the local president, said that the stress factor in Williford’s former office has become such a problem that management has indicated its concern. “They may want to reverse the trend of downsizing or add more workers,” Jones speculated, saying that at times 25 percent of the assigned workers are out of the office — either on sick leave or on benefits.
Meanwhile, Williford is spending her days, waiting out the company’s appeal, by taking some college courses, working toward an associate’s degree in accounting at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, hoping that someday she can work at home.
She still looks back on her days at BellSouth with some incredulity. “I’ve worked in clerical jobs in other offices before, but BellSouth was a whole different ball game,” Williford says.
A North Carolina Industrial Commis-sion deputy commissioner found that Williford, a BellSouth customer service representative for a decade, was suffering from a “major depression” with thoughts of suicide as a result of problems caused by “occupational disease.”
The commissioner ordered BellSouth to pay Williford’s medical bills, to give her thousands in back pay, plus $444 a week until she is healthy enough to work again. The company is appealing the decision, said CWA Representative Wallace Weaver, who was called to testify at Williford’s hearing.
Attorney Sally Metz Keith, a former nurse who represented Williford, said her client was terminated from her $655-a-week job as a customer service rep in March 1996. She had last worked for the company in January 1996. NCIC Deputy Commissioner Morgan S. Chapman handed down her ruling last Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.
Williford told the CWA News she hopes the ruling will cause some management at BellSouth to take a hard look at the results of their downsizing efforts and the pressure that has been put on workers like herself.
The complement of service reps in Williford’s office was reduced from 60 to 33 during the last several years — although targets and goals have remained at the same level, with no relief, according to Paul Jones, president of CWA Local 3611, Raleigh.
Williford told Joe Dew, a staff writer for the Raleigh News & Observer, she pursued her case vigorously through the legal system because she had come to feel abused by the company and its management style.
“When we started out with this, I wanted to let BellSouth know how I felt about the way they treat their employees,” she said. “New people come in. They are bright. They are energetic . . . and over a matter of years, they see their health go downhill.
“This is what the job does to them.”
Jones, the local president, described Williford as a hard-working union steward and BellSouth employee who became so stressed that she occasionally administered insulin shots to herself to combat diabetes while still at her desk.
Chapman, the NCIC deputy commissioner, ruled that the diabetes was not job-related, but found that her mental condition and suicidal thoughts were a result of job pressures.
The pressure, Chapman found, came from supervisors who urged workers to “get off of a call as quickly as possible on the one hand but to sell as many services as possible on the other.”
In a key part of the 13-page opinion, Chapman said:
“The work environment for the service reps was very stressful due to the almost unattainable expectations of the company, the excessive hours, the unpredictable schedules and the harsh monitoring procedures.
“It was not uncommon to see one of the service reps leaving the room in tears. The situation was especially difficult for plaintiff (Williford) with her medical condition when she worked for a supervisor named Betty, who was unsympathetic and unsupportive. There were times when plaintiff had to work as many as 12 days in a row. She was married and had two children, one of whom was a teenager, so she had other responsibilities which she could not attend to during those extended periods at work and, when she finally got time off, she was too tired to deal effectively with problems at home.”
Chapman went on to say that Williford wanted to do well at her job and that when she worked hard but couldn’t meet expectations, “she began to doubt herself, feel increasingly hopeless and lose self esteem.”
Jones, the local president, said that the stress factor in Williford’s former office has become such a problem that management has indicated its concern. “They may want to reverse the trend of downsizing or add more workers,” Jones speculated, saying that at times 25 percent of the assigned workers are out of the office — either on sick leave or on benefits.
Meanwhile, Williford is spending her days, waiting out the company’s appeal, by taking some college courses, working toward an associate’s degree in accounting at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, hoping that someday she can work at home.
She still looks back on her days at BellSouth with some incredulity. “I’ve worked in clerical jobs in other offices before, but BellSouth was a whole different ball game,” Williford says.