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please help - i may loose my job
Mon, 06/25/2007 - 22:41Hey Everyone,
I don't know what to do. I'm practically in tears right now. My boss is considering terminating my position becuase of my problems with communication as a result of my E. He likes the work I do but gets very frustrated when I can't communicate properly. He's not trying to be a jerk. He knows I have E and has no problem with it. To be fair I didn't tell him that the communication problems are stemming from my E. and now the stress is making it worse. I'm scared if I do tell him it would seal my fate so to speak (ha ha). Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Has anyone been able to get past the speech problems? I love my job and don't want to loose it : (
biogal
Comments
Re: please help - i may loose my job
Submitted by smilingturtle on Mon, 2007-07-02 - 17:04
Talk with you boss, but also talk with your Human Resource department. You definitely have rights. Especially if they try to fire you because of your illness. However, they may not use your illness as the reason that they are letting you go, so if you do disclose to your boss that your meds cause problems with your communication than make sure that start documenting everything so that you can prove that they used your illness as the reason that they let you go. Protect yourself and your job. I recently ended up quiting my job after being diagnosed six months earlier with E because after repeatedly asking me to step down from a supervisor position my company started cutting my hours until I had none. I am currently changing meds right now so it works that I am not working. Get on the internet and read the ADA Act in regards to Epilepsy and working, Epilepsy Foundation has some great information.
I hope this helps. Hang in there.
smilingturtle
Re: please help - i may loose my job
Submitted by bex on Sun, 2007-07-01 - 10:20
Dear Biogal, So sorry to hear about your work problems. I was off for 4 months beacuse of med issues and have now gone back on a rehabilitaion programme working reduced hours and building up to my normal hours and tasks over 12 weeks, it makes me realise how lucky I am, although whether it will work out I don't know. Is there a personnel/health dept you could speak to? I think the e is difficult for employers to understnd especially things like memory and comms issues, its like the other day when I phoned someone and called them 3 diff names and was asked why I did I couldn't explain, its just my brain! I really hope things work out for you, its not fair for you to lose your job because of this, I know its difficult but try and speak to your boss and get them to write to your neuro/dr if they need things clarified. Employers are supposed to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees in the UK so am sure it must be the same where you guys are. Best wishes, take care and keep us posted on how you get on!