
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 16, 1995                   TAG: 9511160061
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

EMPLOYEE SUES APCO OVER FIRING

An employee of Appalachian Power Co. says he was fired because he suffered from depression, claiming in a lawsuit that a company official visited him in a psychiatric center and asked him to quit.

John J. Reardon made the allegations in a lawsuit filed this week in Roanoke Circuit Court.

Reardon contends that he was entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, said Terry Grimes, a Roanoke lawyer who filed the lawsuit.

Reardon, a power line repairman for the company since 1981, was admitted to the Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center for 10 days in July for depression and "related problems," the lawsuit stated.

While Reardon was at the center, the suit contends, he was visited by Apco's human resources supervisor, who told Reardon he would be fired if he did not quit. Reardon later was fired after he refused to quit and requested leave, according the the suit.

Reardon, 36, is seeking his job back, as well as at least $40,000 in back wages and other damages.

The Family and Medical Leave Act, which went into effect in 1993, allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year. While the federal law most commonly is associated with people who take time off to care for a new baby or an ill family member, Grimes said it also applies to workers who seek leave because of health problems.

Don Johnson, a spokesman for the power company, declined to comment, saying Wednesday that Apco had yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit.

by CNB