u/Not_a_cultmember

I began working at a federal facility in WNY in 2003. It's an old VA Medical Center with lots of rich history which no one knew about. I began to research and record the history with the full blessing of the facility manager once he realized a book would be the result. In fact, he wanted to place them in the museum as a fund raiser.

Due to the politically driven nature of the facility, I soon fell out of favor with the manager just as the book was to be published, (I had suggested placing the facility on the NY Historic Registry which he vehemently opposed.) I later found out his wife; another manager at the facility, was on the board of the company which wanted to further exploit the facility for their own use.) He had also taken credit for the 200-plus hours of volunteer work, moving and cataloguing artifacts I had done in their museum.

The manager fired me in December 2005, right after the release of the book claiming I was capitalizing on "their" history. I was soon harassed by VA employees whenever I came on station for services. So much so, I had to seek medical services outside the facility. I sued the facility and won a settlement, but unfortunately, he banned my book from the facility and had employees spread falsehoods about me and the book. I now suffer from depression and anxiety attacks due to this.

I decided to return the VA two years ago when I heard there was a new director. He allowed me to sell my books on station but, the facility manager now a volunteer there, still did not want me on station. He had created such a hostile environment that even the current manager of the voluntary services not only refuse any donations from me which were intended to honor our Vietnam veterans, she also treated me with such disrespect that I reported her to patient advocacy which never made it out of the network.

Because of his political connections in the county, he has done all he could to harm sales of my three books and the harassment continues today. Can I sue for exploitation and abuse of power?