Back to work & Reasonable Accomodations

Now it is back to work boys and girls. I have chosen to return to work on 06/13/08. It was a Friday. I figured not a lot going on...Fridays are normally pretty slow at my office.

Now mind you , I have been in contact with my supervisor all through this process. I have asked and requested a back to work plan. I knew I could work, however I knew that the side effects of chemo + work + the 2 hours round trip commute = Vickie getting really, really sick again.

I felt that my office would work with me ...as hello I work for the state. However, my gut told me otherwise.

I get back to work and my supervisor is very empathetic. She is concerned for my health. I am concerned for my leave and my pay. I have been on disability for 90 days and I have been getting 100% for the first 45 and 80% for the next. I was able to make up the difference with leave I had in the bank.

However, I had to go back to work. I could not exist on 60 percent of my pay. I would go under badly.

So we get empathy and sympathy from my superiors but no concrete information about whether I can telecommute for some of the days after chemo or a couple of days a week. Nothing, just blowing me off. Well I worked that next week, I had put my request in writing a month before, asked about it 2months before and now it was down to the line. I cannot afford to take a week off every month. I still have doctors appointments and I need to be accommodated.

Now my supervisor and I attempted to discuss this earlier and we got into a heated disagreement. As she reminded me that they worked with me and supported me while I was out. I was like I had cancer, I had disability leave that was approved and I was sick. You did me no favors mate. This is what you had to do as my supervisor if you wanted this work to get done. I was hot, very hot. Disappointed and disillusioned.

Well it came down to the wire. My supervisor, her boss and the state human resources rep got together and spoke with out me involved. As they stated that had another employee they had to consider as well. Fine no problem.

Go into to speak to my bosses and they politely tell me I cannot telework in lieu of being sick it is in the policy. I am like WHAT! I am not trying to take it in lieu of sick , leave it is my right I am covered under ADA ! I am like no I do not think so. This is different , I experience side effects from my chemo & the travel would make this worse!!

They were like there is nothing we could do. I was like ok, lets speak to the human resources rep. So I called her. She went on and on about perhaps I came back to early. I should have stayed out longer. I was like no, I need a back to work plan. She was like there is none. I was like it says so in ADA and the EEOC! I am getting even angrier. I am trying to remain calm. I said I will grieve this than. She says to me , I have nothing to grieve. I said fine I will go to the EEOC. She was like oh! Let me talk to my EEO rep, I said talk him. I will see you within the hour.

By the time I got there, she changed her tune. I did as well. I learned I have been using the wrong terminology. It is not back to work plan , it is reasonable accommodations for folks with disabilities. The EEOC even has a website that is titled Questions and Answers About Cancer in the Workplace and the American with Disabilities Act.

Once I got there, we were able to talk. She did not apologize, but she did acknowledge that they were going about this the wrong way. She than stated she would talk to my leadership team and strongly encourage them to negotiate with me.

So we went back to the table we negotiated the following the day before I was to have chemo for the 3rd time. The Friday I had chemo was a sick day, the Monday afterward was a sick day, the rest of the days I would telework. If I were to go to the doctor during these days, I was to submit a leave slip! Ok, ok! simple right. My supervisor advised, she did not have time to write up the contract. So I shook hands on it. WRONG MOVE!

I than had my 3rd chemo. Had lunch with my class mate, got sick , though not as sick but sick enough and emailed my supervisor on Tuesday to tell her I started work. I wanted her to transfer my calls to my cell as per our agreement.

I than worked as agreed. Came back to work on Monday and she asked me to submit a leave slip for Friday, Monday, and Thursday. I was only to telework on Wed and Friday. I was like no that is not what we agreed upon. She was like than she would go to speak to her boss who was also in the meeting. I was like ok.

I go to speak to her boss and she was like that is what we agreed to. I was like that is not what my notes say. She was like that is the best we can do, I said nope. We will go back to the table. As what you are saying right now is that I am a liar or on some type of drug that makes me lose my memory! I was MAD ! I was aghast at how I was now being treated. I again dropped the ball, I should have written it up exactly like we discussed the same day we discussed it. I also should have had someone who was neutral in the room.

So we went back to the table and re negotiated another agreement. This new agreement caused me to lose a Thursday. I had to renegotiate a trade for the month of July and for the month of August, I had to give sick leave and for my final chemo in September I had to come in, which subsequently caused me to be sick.

I would ask all survivors to attempt to negotiate this before hand. The term is reasonable accommodations, which is your right to request under the ADA. You are requesting this because your treatment and work has substantially limited your abilit to care for yourself, this is why it is a disability. What you have to trying to express or explain is that you are not saying you are to sick to work you are saying that you are still recovering from treatment and your normal work schedule in addition to you commute and other duties has substantially limited your ability to care for yourself once you return home. This is a hard pill for folks to take. They think you are trying to get over, trying to shirk work, trying to use your illness to your benefit.

Well if it is here why shouldn't you? Now my supervisor and her boss attempted to compare my illness to another coworkers pregnancy. Ah how dare you, I had cancer! This was not a choice! She chose to get pregnant, do not ever put me and her in the same sentence ..our conditions cannot and should not compare.

Again it is important to read up on your rights regarding returning to work when you have been diagnosed with cancer...Information is power baby, information is power!

I am going to list some websites that will be of a great help to you:

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/cancer.html

http://www.cancerandcareers.org/

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/life-after-treatment/page7

http://www.jan.wvu.edu/

http://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/abouttoolkit.htm

http://www.fhcrc.org/patient/support/survivorship/strategies/employeerights.html

These links above should get you started. However you must remember in order to negotiate you must be informed, calm, structured and know what you want and are willing to live with out.
Also you must know that if your caretaker feels that you are not being treated fairly THEY have a right to file with the EEOC.

If you are reading this and you have a friend or loved one who is not being treated well at work, you have a right to file with the EEOC as well! This is a tough enough fight without the drama of folks at work questioning your ability to work or your rights to reasonable accommodations!