Help Ryan Urabe Recover and Rebuild His Life

Hi, my name is Ryan Urabe and last year I landed my dream job at Patagonia (Distribution Center). I beat out 70 applicants for one open position. As you may or may not know, Patagonia promotes saving the planet. One of the many ways it helps save our Mother Earth is by encouraging its employees to reduce our carbon footprint by offering a $3 a day reimbursement for taking alternative means of transportation to work (i.e., public transportation, biking). I bought an electric scooter as my commute would only be 7 miles.

Everything was going great until one day I hit a pothole on my way home from work and fell, resulting in breaking my leg and ankle. It required major surgery and I was bedridden for weeks. Post-op, I was contacted by an HR employee at Patagonia who forwarded me some forms to apply for paid medical leave (FMLA). These forms needed to be completed by my doctor. At the time, I was in extreme pain post-op and taking painkiller medication. It wasn’t easy to get these forms completed, but after contacting my doctor, I was informed that the forms were outsourced and a fee would be required to complete them. A week later, I received the forms back and forwarded them to the HR rep, only to find out that I didn’t qualify for FMLA because I had only been employed for 8 months and a year was required. I was then told I could apply for unpaid medical leave, to which I responded that I needed to ask family and friends for financial assistance. As I was contacting everyone I knew, I received an email stating that I voluntarily resigned. I attempted to contact HR stating that I never resigned and if your HR rep didn’t waste my time and money by applying for paid medical leave when I wasn’t eligible, I would have had more time to try to come up with alternative sources of income. I also attempted to contact HR because this was the exact time the company was offering any employee unpaid vacation time for any length as business was slow. Any employee could take any amount of unpaid vacation time and keep their benefits. I received no reply. I only received one reply from corporate security stating not to email any Patagonia employee!

I applied for disability but was denied. I attempted to contact employment attorneys but nobody would take my case without an upfront fee. I lost my medical insurance and was eventually evicted. I lost everything and went to the homeless shelter. Still in a cast and disabled, I was assaulted by a mentally ill individual there and because I tried to defend myself as a disabled person, the shelter considered that an altercation and I was kicked out of the shelter. I begged my father, who is retired and on limited income, for help and he agreed to help me. I have been living in a motel for a month until I found out today that my father is hospitalized. I have nowhere to go. I can’t even walk long distances without feeling extreme pain. Due to the lack of medical attention post-op, I never recovered properly. I have a college degree and always held a steady job. I will be homeless and I am desperate. I am scared and don’t know how to survive on the streets.