I have been in a difficult spot with my employer pushing me to leave the company. Fortunately, I haven’t had any new issues with my avm (removed a decade ago) but with new severe health issues my employer found out I am taking a chemo medication. It is my fault that information came out though. I have had a horrible feeling of being judged constantly and with knowing I have no hope for a future promotion, I will have to start looking for a career opportunity elsewhere. To be transparent, I have found myself in a depression and fighting tears everyday after work - I would quit today if I could but I need to maintain the health insurance.
Does anyone have any advice on searching for an employer that would be supportive of my abilities, even if they knew my health issues? Fyi, I am in business, currently working for a retailer.
Wow Nicholas, sounds like a stuff spot. I can’t help too much, being Canadian we operate under a whole different set of rules governed by the Canada Labour Code, an a large number of court decisions based on Human Rights investigations and tribunal decisions. I would think that there would be some similar legislation and underlying case law. In Canada each province also has Provincial Labour legislation, this varies among provinces but is similar in many respects. Might be worth doing some research to know where you stand if things continue to not go well. I am covered federally, and we have to ensure workplace accommodation to the point of undue hardship and have a very established process before someone can be released. Would be good for you to know what applies, may provide some comfort. Take Care, John.
Hey Nicholas. Sorry for the touch spot you’re in. I would suggest checking with HR at your company to see if they have any adjustments or accommodations with your schedule. Alternatively, if there is a social security office if you’re in the US, you can search there for jobs that can accommodate your condition. Full disclosure, I lost two jobs because of the employer unwillingness to work with my necessary accomodations. Basically though you need an advocate on your side from within your company if available, so you can keep your job and keep working! Check out www.mymalformation.com for my story. Blessings as you continue, grace & peace as you go!
Hi Nicholas, Welcome. I’m a retired atty. and did a very small amt. of emp. law. I can’t give you legal advice but I can tell you that it’s a good time to try to find a good lawyer, just to establish a relationship and talk about the possibility of a suit. You don’t pay anything for the initial consultation and you’ll have a gut reaction to the lawyer that you should trust.
I’d be up front and say that you’re not sure who you’re going to hire and you’ll probably talk to a few attys… (Lawyer shopping is perfectly fine.)
The only other advice I can give is for you to save every scrap of paper and take notes of conversations with date/time/location.
Even your depression should be documented if possible.
By the way I’m sorry to hear that you’re struggling. Best wishes, Greg
Hey Nicholas,
You’ve been given some really good advice here by the other members.
Similar to @JD12, I’m in another country (Australia) and our labour laws protect the worker to a much greater degree. Discrimination in the workplace is a big issue and one that governments have set legislation to limit, restrict and prosecute. We’ve had a couple of recent cases where big employers have had to pay BIG money to compensate, so it’s a law that has teeth and not just a ‘written-on paper’ type rule.
I must also agree with @GregF Get yourself a lawyer, someone experienced in employment law. I have had the ‘joy’ (NOT) of trying to deal with legal/employment matters by myself before. My advice: Don’t do it. They can have you running around, eventually chasing your own tail. Get yourself a lawyer. Someone who knows the ‘Game’ and has played that game before.
Greg also mentions ‘save every scrap of paper’. I’ll say it differently ‘DOCUMENT EVERYTHING’ If Dr ‘x’ sends you for a scan, get a copy of the report. If Dr ‘y’ sends you for blood tests get a copy of the results. This can help prevent doubling up on tests, treatments and scans.
I think my thoughts in this are that the tough thing re getting legal redress is the evidence that losing your job is to do with your medical condition. If there’s a free chat with an attorney available, if there’s any hint as to what evidence to draw a conclusion as to “I was let go because of my health condition(s)” then that evidence would be the stuff you’d want to keep.
In terms of looking for an employer who is supportive, I would guess that those who offer or talk about flexible hours or are supportive of other minority situations may well be supportive of someone who is less well. Larger companies may well have an access, diversity, equality and inclusion statement on their website. I’d go for one of those.
Thank you all for your input. Luckily it is a large retail company with stores and offices in other countries - I am in their main office located in Arizona. At this point, I can’t say it feels worth legally fighting for. Where even if I am able to secure my position in the company, I will still face many coworkers that treat me as unequal. My true hope is that there is a company where I would be treated equally despite my medical issues and a legal backing. As @DickD wrote, my best bet for finding a good alternative employer may be just looking at their mission statements, values, etc. to see if it is something that is important to their culture.
I think the other thing I’d add is that if you can see any evidence of the prospective companies doing things to support their employees, that should show it is not just lip-service. I can see on companies that I’ve worked for social media some of the initiatives that staff are involved in. I know it wasn’t lip-service with them.
I did a very brief survey of companies in San Francisco (to see if I could find examples in the US – I’m English) earlier and there were what looked like decent examples, so it should be possible to find somewhere suitable.
The point of view to hold is that any company you work for is lucky to have you. If they’re not supportive, they don’t deserve to have your work. It’s their own luck out, not yours.
@Nicholas I am so sorry this happening to you. Sadly I hear of this so much . When I was with Schwab on the Fixed Income Trading side I was always put on every high profile project then when on the other side of our business Mutual Funds there was a huge problem ( Yield Plus) our big boss who ran both divisions moved me to fix the problems…I contacted an employer lawyer who was referred from my friends brother in law.
Well as long as they were paying me the same I found out I could not do much…so I asked for raise and got it.
Then 3 years later when I had my stroke and AVM ( I had fixed the issues, saved the company over 1 million dollars and won a presidential award that is normally only given to SVP and aboves ) it’s a secret award.
So even though I was an always a great employee for over 20 years they tried to fire me and I already had my lawyer and had documentation on everything like Greg has mentioned.
I ended up going back to work against drs orders and still doing the best work because I won’t let anybody change my work ethic or integrity - but I needed another surgery and then decided on my own not to return but said my peace.
Don’t let them win by quitting until you have another better job.
Hi Nicholas, when I was having health issues, lost a dear family member and quickly became a guardian to her autistic son after her death ( they lived in a different state than me), my job made my life VERY difficult. I am a special ed. teacher and had 30 years at this job. I was an excellent employee who always went above and beyond. When my supervisor needed something, I was always the one she called. The job didn’t come out and say anything to me but they increased my work load and put me at schools that were in very unsafe areas. I contacted an attorney. I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know exactly the correspondence he had with my job, but things got better. Needless to say I quit soon after because there was no loyalty to good employees, not to mention empathy. So, as other people are saying document everything, contact Human Resources and if all else fails, think about contacting an attorney. I wish you the best and will be keeping you in my prayers. I’m sorry I was so wordy.
Thanks to you all. My employer actually just had a “belonging” week at work and even had speakers with disability - one cancer survivor, one non-employee with paralysis from a broken spine and someone with anxiety/depression. It was great to see my employer pay attention to disability but things are still getting worse for me here. I am hoping this is just an issue in the area of the company that I’m in and am looking into speaking with HR for options as well as looking into an attorney. I did find out today that I am being moved to a different portion of the company (not a good thing).
Also, I found a website called disabilityin.org which ranks companies for disability adherence and I believe will also assist in finding jobs/careers. I may tap into them as well if needed.
I was working within the disability sector, so you’d think the employer would have an understanding of disability. They had all of the relevant paperwork/documentation/policies and procedures in place and on the surface everything looked rosy. But the reality was far from what was written on paper. I was the sole male in an office with 10 other females and although sexism in a male workplace towards females is often identified as toxic, it works the same the other way around too. I tried to bring this to the attention of management and was made out to be every type of ogre. What is portrayed vs reality can be miles apart sometimes, with nothing but smiles (and snide little remarks) I was pushed closer and closer to the door.
Finding an employer who stands by their word, that can be a challenge in itself, some are prepared to be, somewhat, flexible to accommodate, others, not so much.
