Randy Oden
My name is Randy Oden. I have lived in East Texas my entire life. I had a successful career in football that was unfortunately cut short by a series of knee injuries which resulted in a lifetime of pain and impairment. My working career was spent in the oilfield working first as a roughneck and later as a salesman and troubleshooter. I was hired to work for Wellfirst Technologies as a sales person, but my duties ended up covering work out on locations to manage jobs on the rigs. After working for the company for a little over a year, I got to the point where my injured knee had to be replaced. When I gave notice to the company of my intent to have the surgery my direct supervisor commented that he had also had a knee replacement and that I should return to work 4 weeks after the surgery. While I was still off work and doing physical therapy on my knee, the company sent someone to my house to terminate me. I immediately lost my health insurance and ability to afford the physical therapy I needed to rehab my knee.
I contacted the Hommel Law Firm almost the same day to find out if I had a case. We soon filed with the EEOC and sued the company for disability discrimination. Wellfirst never took the case seriously and we were forced to go to trial in the case. By the time we went to trial I had accumulated approximately $175,000 in lost wages due to the fact that I was unable to rehabilitate my knee. I have been unable to work in the oilfield since my knee replacement. I was also unable to support my daughter who suffers from the same liver disease that killed my wife. I have been forced to work parttime jobs as a security officer for much less pay.
When we went to trial, the jury found that Wellfirst had discriminated against me on the basis of my actual and perceived disability. It awarded $100,000 in lost wages, $200,000 for past and future compensatory damages and $450,000 in punitive damages against Wellfirst. Because Wellfirst only employed approximately 20 employees (not counting employees from another jointly owned company) the statutory caps on damages imposed by Congress capped my compensatory/punitive damages to $50,000. My recovery was reduced from $150,000 - $100,000 for lost wages and $50,000 for compensatory/punitive damages.
I still suffer from the effects of losing my job and insurance. Because I rehabbed my knee on my own, I injured my hips which has caused me to have a hip replacement. I have had multiple complications from the hip replacement – all of which should have been avoided if Wellfirst had not wrongfully terminated me. I continue to be unable to return to work in the oilfield and have been forced to apply for social security disability benefits which is still pending.