Jim Dotson spent the last six years seeking the truth, not only from his employer whom he charged wrongly fired him but for himself and his family.
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his former employer's appeal, handing Dotson a victory even as it cost him his career, his home and most of his life savings.
Once a fast-rising division salesman for Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company based in New York, Dotson was fired in 2003. The firing came just days after he and his wife, Ann, returned to Raleigh from Russia with a 13-month-old adopted baby girl with chronic upper respiratory infections.
Pfizer claimed he was terminated because Dotson gave the Russian orphanage 24 rounds of pediatric Zithromax, an antibiotic used to clear up ear and respiratory infections. The exchange, Pfizer argued, put the company at risk by giving the appearance of "quid pro quo," essentially a bribe for the baby.
Stunned by the charges, Dotson sued the drug maker under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
"This is a guy who rose through the ranks, moved for the company eight times, won every sales award there was, was a flag-waving, true blue Pfizer company man," said Dotson's attorney Bill Barrett in Raleigh. "He couldn't believe the injustice of this."
The suit's outcome will also go down as one of the few instances in which an individual prevailed over a multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company - Pfizer was listed as No. 48 on the Fortune 500.
And it puts companies on notice: The burden lies with them to understand and apply family medical leave.
"It's pretty unusual for an employer to get hit with this kind of verdict," said Brian Clarke, a Charlotte, N.C., lawyer who heads the N.C. Bar Association's labor and employment section.
Pfizer did not return repeated e-mail messages and telephone calls.
Although Dotson has not received his award, $662,858 plus attorney fees, he and his wife are planning an adoption celebration party they had hoped to have when they brought Aselya (ah-SEEL-ya) home from Russia.
Their brown-eyed girl recently turned 7. She is an intelligent and affectionate first-grader.
Dotson is now realizing that his real victory lies with her and the blessings she has brought him.
THE JOB OWNED HIM
Jim and Ann Dotson met as undergraduates at UNC-Chapel Hill, married in 1986 and began a life together that resembled the best of the American dream.
After a brief stint with Procter & Gamble, Dotson took a job with Pfizer and progressed quickly through the sales-management ranks. Despite repeated moves - the Dotsons lived in Atlanta, Washington, New York and Raleigh - they raised three children, with Ann staying home and Jim selling Pfizer drugs such as the antibiotic Zithromax and the antidepressant Zoloft.
Jim made a handsome living, earning $250,000 a year before bonuses. He had stock options, a retirement annuity, a company car, a top-of-the-line computer. The one thing he didn't have was time with his children.
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