The first time I was ill, I had a very complicated, high profile and socially-oriented job as media relations manager for a household name Wall Street company. After I was hit with Epstein-Barr and then Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (undiagnosed, and I had no idea it would last more than a few months) I was basically fired for my inability to do all I’d done before — at that point, I had a lot of cognitive disabilities, as well as physical ones. This was back in 1991, when there was much less awareness about managing people with chronic illnesses, and no awareness at all about CFS. At the time, I wanted to stay with the company, and sought a job more suited to my reduced abilities, also something I was interested in — editing analytical research reports, a nice quiet back-office job.

Unfortunately, I was not operating in an environment that was able to see the value of retaining a seasoned and historically high-producing employee who was simply in the wrong job, but still had much to offer the company. The firm was in the middle of huge upheavals, the stock market had been in the toilet for years — there was a regime change going on, out with the old and in with the new, and I was tainted as much by my association with my bosses who were also being fired for reorganizational reasons, as for the fact that I’d gone out sick for three weeks and came back a lesser person. Fortunately, I got a nice exit package, so it wasn’t a terrible outcome, but a welcome escape from a too-tough work environment.

I would advise this person on probation to disclose, disclose, disclose. Document with doctors notes. Submit articles on chronic pain to HR to bolster your case. You may not be able to stay at your job, but you may force them to at least look at an alternative spot for you. Failing that, they may have to acknoledge that you have a disability and if you are really too sick to fulfill your duties, that may have to be your exit route.

But there is so much more awareness now, and knowledge of ADA (which I don’t think existed when I first got sick) that you ought to be protected from the harshest outcome.

The second time I was on staff I did disclose, and they tried to accommodate, but in the end, decided it was too much trouble, and pensioned me off. None of this was fun, but the moral of the story is — disclose, try to see if you can find and do a different job in the company. And take care of yourself.

I am not blaming the employee. It is VERY hard to admit, even to ourselves, how much having an illness affects us and what we can do. Also, there is usually some anger at not being able to do what we once did, through no fault of our own. And there is usually fear that our employer won’t understand (which I think your reader stated as well).

There may be no way to salvage this situation, but perhaps the reader can look at what choices she made in this job, and moving forward be more proactive in what she does for herself, both in choosing work she can do and in disclosing sooner if it will help her to keep her job.

Thanks to you for having Rosalind address this and for Rosalind for wisdom.

I will be having a guest post from Rosalind on Nov. 20th at my blog. She will be addressing the need to develop a specific talent both for the workplace and for out personal lives. I hope your readers will continue to follow her through this virtual book tour and learn more about her and her book.

Maureen
http://beingchronicallyillisapill.blogspot.com