The Tommy Thompson Story
By Tommy Thompson
Below is a story from a Mr. Tommy Thompson. I thought it compelling enough to
place it in feature articles. In our opinion, this is simply an example of how our
community is treated. Also, if any of you have any input for Mr. Thompson, please
send it to me and I will forwarded it to him. Thanks. Diana
Dear Diana Malfa,
My name is Tommy Thompson and I live in Albemarle, North Carolina. I am a disabled
individual I think it is very sad because qualified disabled individuals are treated as
outcasts. We are not given an equal chance to prove that we can perform the task
for which we are qualified to do. Most of the disabled in America can work and
perform the same quality as anyone else, but we are pressured in being placed on
"Disability" or accept lower paying jobs. It is a terrible thing that we live in
a country
where the disabled have to lower their standards of living because we look different.
Most of us can never afford to live independently or have families of our own.
I worked for Stanly Community College for over 11 years. Here is a quote from the
"North Carolina Community College System Fact Book Section I--Page 3 The Working
Mission Statement
The mission of the North Carolina Community College System is to open the door to
opportunity for individuals seeking to improve their lives and well-being by providing:
a. Education, training and retraining for the workforce, including basic skills and
literacy education, occupational and pre-baccalaureate programs.
b. Support for economic development through services to business and industry.
c. Services to communities and individuals which improve the quality of life."
I graduated from Stanly Community College in North Carolina with high honors.
After graduating I began working for SCC in the electronic department. On September
30, 1988 I was on the front page of the Stanly News and Press and a college
spokesperson told the news reporter "The College hired him because of his good
record in his EET classes." As an employee of Stanly Community College from
1988 to December 31, 1999 I can verify that Stanly Community College was not
abiding by this working mission statement.
These figures are the amounts from my W-2 and Tax Statements from SCC in:
1989 = $6,829.00, 1990 = $6,479.00, 1991 = $3,624.00,
1992 = $4,335.00, 1993 = $5,541.00, 1994 = $3,861.00,
1995 = $4,270.00, 1996 = $6,178.00, 1997 = $14,784.00,
1998 = $11,082.00
These small figures were my yearly income. As you can clearly see it would be
impossible for me to buy a house, a new car, or even try to raise a family on such
a small income. Yet the mission of the college is improve the quality of life for
individuals.
During my time at Stanly Community College I was told that they could not hire me
full-time because I only had an Associates Degree. A couple years ago I discovered
that not only did the school have full-time instructors with an Associates degree but
the had Program Heads that only had an Associates degree and one instructor with
a High School diploma. When they did decide to hire me a full-time they gave me the
job duties of the Program Head/Instructor of the Electronics Program but they gave
me the title of Teaching Assistant so they could place me at the bottom of the pay scale.
The United States has laws to protect the disabled rights but they are not enforced.
Therefore it is almost impossible for a disabled individual to get a lawyer to represent
him/her. Because of this I feel like I'm a prisoner being punished for being handicap
or a crime that I didn't commit.
It is very sad that the United States will fight wars across the world to protect the
rights
of citizens in other countries. While the United States has citizens, the disabled, that
are
treated less than human. Tamera from a message board on the Internet wrote me saying:
"We are the most neglected minority in this country by far. It sickens me. A lot of
people
just don't know. We need someone to fight for OUR RIGHTS!!!!!!!"
I recently filed a complaint to the Department of Labor and the EEOC about Stanly
Community College. The Department of Labor told me "We have closed the above
referenced complaint under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended,
because contract jurisdiction could not be established". On September 27, 2000 I
received
a telephone call from Suzanna C. Thompson, Senior Investigator of the EEOC in Charlotte,
she told me that she was dismissing my case. She tends to believe the lies the school
told her rather than looking at my evidence. The school can afford lawyers to word things
on paper to look good, while I have no one to help me. Please take a few minutes to look
over my web page at www.information02.cjb.net
or www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/index.html.
It
contains evidence, which clearly illustrates how disabled individuals are treated and how
our system chooses to ignore them.
Here are some of the key evidence that you will find on my web page: (I have a lot of
evidence that is not on the web)
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/examples.htm = A few
examples showing that I was doing the job of a Full-time faculty member for many years but
only received the pay of a part-time instructor. The school for many years lied to me and
told
me they could not hire me because I had only an associate's degree. Over two years ago I
discovered the school had been lying to me the entire time. I had discovered that there
were
program heads at Stanly Community College with only associate degrees and one with only a
High School Diploma.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/my_w2_forms.htm = This
shows my yearly wages at the school. (click on the thumbnails)
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/nc_college_education.htm =
This clearly proves the school had been lying to me the entire time. If you click onto
figure 4 it clearly
shows that there were 1876 full-time staff in the North Carolina Community College system
with less
than a Bachelor's degree. Figure 2 clearly shows that Stanly Community College had 10
Full-time
Instructors with less than a Bachelor's degree. (Click on the thumbnails)
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/job_description.htm = When
the school finally to decide to hire me Full-time they lowered the title to Teaching
Assistant. If you
look at the job duties it clearly indicates the job duties of an Instructor not assisting
an Instructor.
They gave me the title of Teaching Assistant so they can put me on the bottom of the pay
scale.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/job_description2.htm = Here
are the job duties that I did while working for Stanly Community College. (Click on the
thumbnails)
These duties were the duties of the Program Head not an assistant. Page two of my job
duties
shows the correct title at the top, it has Program Head/Instructor.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/second_year_classroom.htm =
This shows the condition of the classroom that Stanly Community College wanted me to teach
the
motor class in. I was denied a lab assistant to help with the classroom; the previous
instructors had lab assistants.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/braker/1160/information/nc_college_salaries.htm =
This
shows the salary range of Instructors in the Community College system. It also shows my
job advertised
after I left, my job was advertised starting at $32,000 a year with only 12 months
experience.
As I've mentioned above more about my situation can be found on the Internet at
http://www.information02.cjb.net/.
The EEOC ignored all the evidence that I have provided them with and the media chooses to
ignore me. I
gave a copy of my web page on CD to the EEOC along with the evidence that I don't include
on the web
page.
If this type of treatment isn't stopped now it will continue to get worse.
(Below the dotted lines of this message are faxes that I have sent to the EEOC.)
............................................................................................................................................................................
...
Fax #1
To: Suzanna C. Thompson
Senior Investigator
129 West Trade Street, Suite 400
Charlotte, NC 28202
From: Tommy Thompson
33904 Old Herlocker Rd.
Albemarle, NC 28001
Here are the individuals you need to contact:
Tom Chrane
(704) 983-5064
He was the Program Head of the CET department. During the time Tom was Program Head he had
an
Associates Degree.
David Null
(704) 463-1742
David was the Program head for the EET program. Please provide David the information on
the
qualifications for the Program Head. David can tell you the school wouldn't hire me in the
past because of
my Associates Degree, while the school had other program heads with an Associates degree.
Stanly
Community College even had a Program Head with a High School diploma, not a degree.
Ron Barrier
Home: (704) 788-7991
Work: (704) 788-3197 ext. 791
Ron was the program Head of the BMET department. Ron now works for Rown-Cabarrus Community
College.
Wes Misenheimer
(727) 734-5524
Wes worked at Stanly Community College for many years in multiple departments, but mainly
the EET
program.
You read to me on the telephone that only Programs Heads can have a Lab Assistant, which
is not true.
Remember I was a Lab Assistant and I worked as a Lab Assistant for Wes Misenheimer, who
was not a
Program Head. I also worked for Mike Roscoe, who was not a Program Head; Mike only worked
for Stanly
Community College for two quarters.
As I've provided you the evidence on CD: Instructors at Stanly Community College salaries
cannot be
compared like when you compared my Salary with another Salary of another Instructor at
Stanly
Community College. Instructors Salaries or "pay wages are based to the level of
performed, and are
comparable to rates paid for similar work in other institutions and in this area of the
state, consider
individual performance in determining a person's compensation, and will provide fair and
uniform
administration of wages and salaries". The salary Stanly Community College was
offering me was much
lower than those of other Electronic Instructors across the State. Please look at the
evidence on the CD that
I provide you. I have evidence that you are clearly overlooking.
As stated in the Faculty handbook: "All full-time positions must have a job
description developed using a
common format." Stanly Community College makes changes to suite their needs. Section
C of the faculty
handbook that I worked by clearly states: "If a job description changes during the
year, it will be
reevaluated by the appropriate committee. Should the job level change, a salary adjustment
will take place
at the beginning of the next fiscal year." I have proven to you the school offered me
the Job as Teaching
Assistant - my job duty wasn't that of an assistant. I have proven to you that the school
offered me a salary
below the range of the job I was to do. During the three weeks the school would not allow
me to sign my
contract they made changes to it. They did not form a committee and make changes like the
faculty
handbook says they should, they violated procedures.
Stanly Community College can afford Lawyers to write things so that it looks believable on
paper while I
do research on my own. I thought our Justice System was a fair system. In order for you to
perform a fair
investigation you need to go investigate the computer systems at Stanly Community College
and you need
to question full-time faculty that has worked there longer than 5 years, they will tell
you the real truth. If
you need me to sign a contingency form that will allow you to have access of my records on
their computer
systems I will be glad to do it.
Thank you,
Tommy Thompson
............................................................................................................................................................................
.................
Fax #2
To: Suzanna C. Thompson
Senior Investigator
129 West Trade Street, Suite 400
Charlotte, NC 28202
From: Tommy Thompson
33904 Old Herlocker Rd.
Albemarle, NC 28001
Robert (Bob) Harrison was the Electronic Engineering Technology Program Head/Instructor at
Stanly
Community College. I provided Mr. Harrison a copy of my job duties and here is what he had
to say about
them:
"The sum of both pages does describe the Program head responsibilities."
This eyewitness clearly proves that Stanly Community College was giving me the job
duties/responsibilities of the Program head and not matching the pay of the Program head.
Mr. Harrison now teaches at Catawba Valley Community College in the Engineering Technology
Department. You can reach Mr. Harrison via telephone at (828) 327-7000 ext. 4371 or e-mail
him at
rharriso@cvcc.ccnc.us.
Thank you,
Tommy Thompson
