Return to work woahs

I find myself reflecting on work and disability issues today. I’ve now officially been off work for a year now. I’ve done my part, I’ve worked tirelessly to return to work getting all the paperwork for accommodation etc into my employers hands but I’m still at a standstill just short of a year of returning back to work.

It’s often hard navigating working with a disability. Especially when you may not know your rights. I’m not sure about other countries but here in Canada we have something called “Duty to Accommodate”. I’ve found myself up until now not able to fight this return to work so I’ve gone along providing what I could making it well known that my doctor’s instructions are that I’m to be accomodated via work from home with a gradual integration back into the office environment. Yet a journey that started May 2014 has been met with resistance at every turn. First it was well we can’t do work from home because of xyz reasons. Perfectly legitimate reasons too. So I let them know i understood and I would work on what i could but I was open to transferring into a position elsewhere within my employer to a position that could accomodate my needs.

Yet still I sit here not being able to get answers to my legitimate questions. What’s the update on finding a position. I even have gotten to the place where I can do 1 half day with a good plan to get to three half days then to be reassessed. See I get that they want a concrete plan but the fact is I don’t know. All I know is i could work full time right now if i could work from home.

So where does this leave me… Over the past month I’ve been contemplating involving my union… Not an easy decision. It’s often looked down upon because there’s some implied message of “you’re doing something wrong” to your employer when you do it. Do I think my employers are doing wrong? Not neccessarily. I think they are looking out for themselves, and are uninformed about returning to work and handling employees with disabilities. I think their intent is my well being and theirs. However that said I do have the right not to be discriminated against, and there is that pesky little duty to accommodate…

There are limits… maybe you’ve heard of it… undue hardship… that’s the limit to duty to accommodate here in Canada. But let me ask you this…  How is accommodating me working from home or working one half day a week with a gradual increase undue hardship? The systems are in place though not in my current position. But they do exist and there is company policies saying that working from home is reasonable accommodation… so again… where is the undue hardship?

So I made the difficult decision to speak to my union rep today. I’m not sure how this will play out but all I want is to work… I don’t really care doing what but I want to work so badly that forcing me to stay home until I meet some “minimum” is driving me nuts. I need to start small and somewhere. The other frustrating thing is that this minimum keeps changing. Last year it was you can come back when you can work 1 half day… so what happens when i got there… oh no sorry you have to be able to do three half days… So what’s to say that when I finally get there it’s not going to change? Also what’s happening with the looking for another position that can accommodate me? an answer that simply gets ignored.

I’m frustrated by my employers lack of knowledge on these issues. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable…. However I can’t help but feel like I’m being stone walled in some attempt to get my insurance to force me to find another employer… the clock seems to be ticking and I’m not sure I can afford not to fight this fight, but I also don’t know that I have the energy to fight it either… So I called… I needed someone in my corner to help me fight to get a plan to see some action on my employers part to get back to work. I do like my union rep. I’ve known him for a while now. I explained the situation and he is going to make some inquiries on my behalf and see what he can do. The other thing I trust is that he’s not going to start playing some blame game with my employers. The last thing i need is someone going and getting their backs up. I trust that he’s got the diplomacy skills neccessary to aid the process.

With that there are some resources that I really want to share with you guys. There’s a book I’ve read which I think is awesome. If you have a chronic illness it’s a must read:

Women, Work, and Autoimmune Diseases: Keep working Girlfriend!

CUPE fact sheet on Duty to Accomedate

Ontario Human Rights Commission: Duty to Accomodate

PSAC: Duty to Accomodate

 

 

 

 

and the bowels did Sing!

I have to say as much as I’m so frustrated at my own circumstances today, there is a light to all this. As you’ve gathered by now I’ve been having far to many bad days. I’m frustrated with my lack of energy, that it’s like going to war just to accomplish the commute into work. Having my GI look at me and ask “why don’t you work from home”?

It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about it before – the dream job, the one where you can work from home while you’re on the john, in your pjs, with underwear around those ankles. God the amount of energy i could conserve just by taking the simple ok well not so simple act of commuting into work seems like a unicorn really.

But what the doc asked seemed like the best course of action. See my main source of frustration isn’t that I feel like crap – I’ve come to largely accept that (well most of the time) it’s that I a once dedicated, loyal, trustworthy, reliable employee wasn’t so reliable anymore. Nor could I say I just need to take this week and then I’ll be better promise. I couldn’t promise anything. I’ve been very fortunate both with Crohn’s and with work. I have a largely supportive department, boss and co-workers. I love my job, and it frustrates me when i can’t go to work because I feel like I’m letting them down. The reality is I am letting them down.

Having to come to terms that I am no longer the best fit for my position, and my position to me has been difficult. Here enters the light…  On christmas eve a letter arrived in the mail for me. A letter that I didn’t know if I was going to get.

My GI doc wrote a lovely three sentence letter to my work. Explaining I have Crohn’s, the limitations that causes me, and drum roll please, that he recommends a work from home alternative! Step 1 accomplished. I had called a week or so before and asked if this was something he’d do. The lovely nurse (one of my favorites) said she didn’t know but she’d ask. I heard nothing of it till I received the letter.

I was planning on sitting with my boss today to discuss. I had brought the subject up before saying it “may” be a recommendation but I didn’t know yet. Enter the singing part. I went to bed last night, excited to be going to work after the holidays at the early time of 9:30. I was exausted pleasantly from a good day. At midnight I awoke, with my gut singing…. yup it wouldn’t shut up. loud, painfully I spent the next four hours going from the bed, to the toilet praying to have a bowel movement to have some relief. I had a lot of gas, but no poop in sight… At 4 I gave up on the hope of going to work. I scanned my pretty letter into the computer, and sent my boss an email saying I wasn’t going to be able to make it.

Today has largely been, a trip to the docs to get yet another note to excuse my abesence due to medical reasons, crying in the office yet again (I really have to stop that! lol), and coming home to work on my resume. While I took the trip to see my doc, my boss was busy talking to her boss. Luckily I haven’t screwed up reputation at work and the big boss wants a new resume so he can assist in finding me a position that will allow me to work from home! Step 2: in process!

I’ve heard many horror stories of how employers treat employees with sickness, and I’ve seen it first hand in some other sections in my work. I’m very fortunate that despite the struggle I’ve been having lately that my track record has shown that I’m still an asset and they want to retain me for now.

Ask and you shall receive. Seems simple and largely it has been ok – still didn’t make it easy coming to accept that right now I need this change eventhough I didn’t want it in the first place.

Navigating through working

I’m a firm believer in working… I love to work, yup a workaholic. Part of my journey through living with Crohn’s has been largely navigating through working with crohn’s. For the most part it’s been ok, but as we know the it’s unpredictable. While most of the time I’m ok, I can’t seem to work more than a few weeks consecutive before taking sick time off.

So on this last few weeks I’ve been re-evaluating whether my beloved job is meeting my needs. Don’t get me wrong I love my job, and the people who I work with. However in being sick while they may not make me feel guilty I do. I feel guilty and that I let them down when I’m sick for the pure fact that I care about my co-workers and my employer. They need someone who’s reliable, who can be there in person to do the job. I can sit here and wish it wasn’t so, but the unfortunate fact is that I am no longer reliable. I find it difficult to make the commute into work, and to consistently be at work to work.

What I need is a job that allows me to work from home. If i could work from home I wouldn’t be exposed to the bugs and viruses that come with working with people, I’d catch less colds and flu’s. I could weather the bad days by working from a laptop sitting on the john, or sitting in bed. Just because I can’t leave the house or I have to sleep in doesn’t mean I couldn’t easily do tasks on the computer. But here the glitch. In my current position it’s paper and people based. There is no way in my current position to work from home.

I haven’t given up. I’m investigating. Just because my particular position can’t be moved to my home doesn’t mean there isn’t a position within the organization that could? Right? I’m on a mission now. I’m investigating the duty to accommodate, how exactly does it work. Is it my employers responsibility to match me to another position? Is it mine? What if such a position isn’t vacant or available what then?

Currently the arrangement doesn’t work for both of us. But I’m sure we can find something that does. For the sake and the love of my job I want them to have someone who is reliable even if that person isn’t me… but I do need a job one that preferably with my employer but flexible enough to allow me to work from home the majority of the time.

I’ll keep you posted.