A work conundrum..out of nowhere

[tiredandthirsty]

dear all,

hope you are doing well and keep on doing well forever. 

something bad happened this afternoon at work for me.  and i am clueless on how to handle this.  so i thought i'd come seek guidance from the learned folk once again.  this might be a bit longer than my usual posts but please bear with me.  i think a concise but proper background might provide a better understanding. 

so i work for a consulting company where i used to travel 100%.  leave monday morning bright and early on a plane off to somewhere, spend the week at the client site, spend nights at hotels, and then come back home thursday night late (midnightish if flights are on time).  friday either work from home or go to the office, saturday sunday off and then repeat monday morning.  our reviews and stuff happen on how "billable" we are meaning how much time we charge to client projects.  and i was charging mad hours when i was traveling no doubt.  but since october 2010, since this started, i have not been able to travel.  so in january, i found a project internally within the company where i could work remotely and the team and manager were very accommodating with my treatments and such.  and i did bust my rear end to make up for that lost time as well (it's 8:55 PM and i am just now getting off of work and today is my day off from treatment).  this went on for all of 2012.  however, i received an email from HR today saying that any more extensions are not possible on my current project and i will have to find one of those "traveling" roles again.  how exactly do they expect me to do this traveling thing is beyond me.  they said they can only accommodate someone on a "non-billable" project (the one where i don't charge a client, but i charge time to the company itself) for one year max.  and i made it abundantly clear to them in the beginning that it could be one week or it could be one year, there is no way to tell.  and no one said anything at that time.  now all of a sudden i got blind sighted this afternoon with this email.  i believe they will eventually force me to take short term or long term disability.  which i want to save up for the time when i will really need it.  i don't want to go on disability as i may not be able to travel but i can still contribute by working on the project i am currently on.  it is not as if the current project does have the budget to accommodate me, they do.  it's just some stupid HR policy. 

any ever experience this?  how did you handle such a thing?  or how do you handle such a thing? is there a law against such a thing? any tips/suggestions/advice on what i should do?  i am totally confounded...





EDITED:  Thread moved to proper section:  "Working While On D" - jbeany, Moderator

[Joe]

The ADA will dictate that your company make reasonable accommodations for your situation. Check with your Social Worker and see if they have any suggestions. The other thing is to explain to your HR folks that if you need to travel, they need to provide your traveling schedule 8 weeks in advance so you can arrange for dialysis in the town you will be staying (or whatever period ahead you need). You also could talk with an attorney that specializes in labor relations and the ADA and see what they suggest.

Good Luck.

[Riki]

The ADA will dictate that your company make reasonable accommodations for your situation. Check with your Social Worker and see if they have any suggestions. The other thing is to explain to your HR folks that if you need to travel, they need to provide your traveling schedule 8 weeks in advance so you can arrange for dialysis in the town you will be staying (or whatever period ahead you need). You also could talk with an attorney that specializes in labor relations and the ADA and see what they suggest.

Good Luck.

That was my thought too.. Another thing would be to switch to PD, if you can.  Depending on how far ahead you know when you're going, you can ship your supplies to your hotel ahead of time.  I did that when traveling on PD.  I'd send my supplies via UPS to my hotel a week before I was to leave and it usually got there before I did.  The hotel was very good, and would store it for me.  I imagine that most higher end hotels would do this for you.

[jeannea]

I don't know if you need a lawyer or not. The ADA requires accomodation unless it presents an undue hardship to the company. They may be able to say that you were hired to travel and not being able to travel is not an accomodation they can make. Have they shown in the past that they will meet with you and listen to you? I think your only chance is to sit down with someone, explain what dialysis means for travel, and ask to stay in your current role. If they refuse, you could go on disability. Or you could make them fire you and collect unemployment while looking for a job that has less travel. If you think it will help you figure things out, talk to a lawyer.

[tiredandthirsty]

Hello All,

hope you are all doing well and keep on doing well forever.

first of all, apologies for this super late response to all your messages.  and i appreciate all your responses.  Yesterday was my yearly transplant listing scans/tests renewal day.  it has been one year since my listing so yesterday was the long day. and to top that off, i had to go straight to the clinic for treatment from the hospital after all those social worker, doctor, ct scan blah blah appointments.  i was EXHAUSTED!  and today i have been bombarded at work.  i am still not done but i decided to take a break.  i am tired of looking at emails from people who want things done NOW.  i am a human being with two hands dammit, not a bloody machine

anyways, back to the responses.  i do not want to get a lawyer involved at this point because i don't want to burn any bridges you know?  if i avoid burning bridges, i might be able to come back to my position once i am back on my feet whenever that is.  although i don't know how likely that is but there is still that chance. 

i did talk to the social worker and seems like she does not know anything.  she said she will send a note out to other social workers and see if they have any input. 

PD is not for me as i have ascites and liver problems.  so the liver doctor has advised against PD as it might get infected and cause further problems.  so PD unfortunately not for me.

i have kept my HR person up to date with everything that has been going on with me.  the smallest of the details she knows.  still she is acting like she does not care.  i thought she did with the way she was helping me in the beginning.  checking up on me and all.  so i don't know what went wrong. 

the biggest scare i have in traveling on a regular basis is if something happens to me, i will be alone.  with no family support.  or worse case, if i get a call from the transplant clinic and i am miles away?? plus my feet get really swollen when i fly.  this started happening when my bean  started dying.  and the swelling didn't go down the entire week. 

i don't want to go on disability right now because disability through the company (Short term) will only last me six months and then i will have to go on Long Term disability through the company.  i am afraid what if nothing happens within the 6 months of short term disability.  going on long term disability means the company has the right to deny me a position if they don't have a business need.  so basically they get a chance to get rid of me.  my company is all about the "bottom line" so it does not matter how good you are, if you are not making them money you are not going to "go places".  short term disability the probability of me getting my job back is much higher.  so i want to take the ST disability almost EXACTLY when i need it.  and this is not the time as i am still playing the waiting game. 

i have emailed a bunch of higher up people and asked for advice/help but it seems like no one seems to be willing to help.  some people haven't even responded haha.  tells you what loyalty means in Corporate America yeah?  i am clueless at this point on what to do or how to "fight" this.  i'll keep shooting arrows in the dark and hopefully one will hit.  but i really needed this like i needed another chronic condition.  i sure could have lived without it.  as i said previously, God seems to be over estimating my "handling" ability. 

[jeannea]

I don't think they can force you to go on disability. Make them do the work. Just keep going to work. If they want you gone then they'll have to pay your enemployment and risk a lawsuit. You don't have to tell them how much you want to stay. You still hold some cards. Use them.

[tiredandthirsty]

Hi jeanna,

thanks for your response.

i know they can't force me to go on disability.  what i meant was they will "indirectly" force me to go on disability by throwing policies and such at me.  i work remotely from home so yes i do show up every morning at 7:30 AM.  i hope i have some cards that i can use.  at this point i am not sure what they are but i do hope i have some :-). 

[CebuShan]

I'm sorry I have no wonderful words of wisdom for you. I've found that my SW often doesn't know anything unless I tell her! Meaning I have to do the work myself! I usually just shake my head and wonder how she ever got her job!   
Hang in there! I'm sure it will work out.   

[tiredandthirsty]

thank you CebuShan for your kind words.  i'll take the fight to them that's for sure.  not the one that simply goes down easily :-). 

[Rerun]

Send an email out asking for everyones blood type because you need a kidney to stay at the Company.  See what response you get. 

Disability isn't so bad.  You have extra time to rest and eat right and take care of yourself.

[tiredandthirsty]

Send an email out asking for everyones blood type because you need a kidney to stay at the Company.  See what response you get. 

Disability isn't so bad.  You have extra time to rest and eat right and take care of yourself.

haha..i should definitely try sending out an email to the whole company.  i doubt i will get a single response.

i know disability would not be really bad, but i am the sole support of my household.  and i am afraid disability might put me to the edge of my capacity financially.  equal to more unnecessary stress.  rent, groceries, all sorts of utility bills, gas etc. how will i manage? that thought always troubles me.

[tiredandthirsty]

hi all,

just thought i'd provide a quick update on this.  i have a call with a high level person today and i am going to literally beg on the phone.  whatever i need to do i will.  wish me luck. 

the HR call is scheduled for tomorrow.  i'll provide an update on both as soon as i can. 

Thank you

[CebuShan]

Good Luck!

[tiredandthirsty]

Hello all,

hope everyone is doing well and keep on doing well forever.

so here is the update if anyone is interested.  it is not good. 

i had a chat with HR today and didn't say it directly, but she has put me in position as to where i don't have any other choice but to go on disability.  they are protecting themselves legally by not directly telling me to go on disability but she stressed it hard enough.  telling me what would happen otherwise and giving me grim views of what would happen if i didn't.  but then she added "the final decision is of course yours whether you want to take that option or not".  so there.  i am as they say "f***d".  i am totally disappointed.  i know corporate america was a rough place but i never thought I would get to taste it's venom.

[MaryD]

T@T - What sort of other things could happen?  I'm in OZ so I don't know how things work over there. 

Sending you good vibes.     

[tiredandthirsty]

hi Mary,

thanks for your response.  i'll try to explain.

i work for a consulting company, so the way my company makes money off of me is how many hours i can charge to a client i am assigned to. they charge an hourly rate for me to the client and the more hours i charge, the more money they make.  these type of roles typically involve 100% traveling.  leave monday morning, come back thursday night.  work from home/office on friday.  repeat monday morning.  now considering my situation, traveling is out of question.  hence i can't get on a project where i charge time to a client.  so if i don't get on such a project, a metric that is calculated for our performance at the year end review will come up really low.  hence my performance review will be largely affected because of this and that will create a whole new set of problems. 

this is the basic concept.  hope i am making sense here.  that's what i was told could potentially happen.

[okarol]

In this age of Skype and video conferencing I think many companies are no longer sending folks all over the globe. Does your body actually have to be in another city for you to complete the consulting work? It sounds like your company is accustomed to inflating the actual travel costs to justify their prices, and are not creatively adapting to modern business practices.

Personally I would stay as long as feasible. They have accommodated you thus far and do not want to lay you off or fire you, probably due to ADA and costs to them. If you take disability it costs them less in the long run, I think.

I hope you're able to work as long as you want. Any hope for a transplant? Have you campaigned to find a living donor?

Good luck!

[tiredandthirsty]

Hi Okarol,

yes.  a part of work can be done with video conferecing, email and phone.  however, not all companies have such facility and not all level of employees have access to such facilities.  so it becomes necessary for us to travel to the client site and work face to face and side by side with them.  a lot of client employees don't like consultants because they tend to think we are there to increase their work load and change the way they do things.  so working with them on a remote basis becomes a very big pain in the rear end. personal experience multiple times.  just trying to get them to fill out a spreadsheet and send it back became an extremely tedious task.  and this was to be done on a weekly basis.  the person would not return email, phone calls nothing. 

and yes you are absolutely right, they are stressing me to get on disability because that will put me off of their books and the company handling the disability will take me up.  especially since the economic conditions are not the best right now, they are being a bit strict. 

i am listed for a double (kidney/liver) transplant one year 18 days now.  and the doctors say that since i need two organs, sourcing them from the same place would immunologically be better and would be better managed. plus i don't want to ask anyone to give up two organs for me, asking for one is a big enough task in itself. so i am waiting for a cadaveric transplant. 

thank you for your response.

[jeannea]

I still think you have two options. 1) Go on disabilty. 2) Make them fire you. They obviously don't want to fire you. You can decide to stick it out and make them do the work they don't want to do. There are a few complications.

First disability. Who pays for the disability insurance? Does your company? If they pay for it, your earnings will be taxable under the policy only for federal not state or local. You will be paid 60% of your salary. Because of some tax stuff I found my take home was pretty close to what I was taking home before. This lasts for a while. You will have to fill out lots of paperwork. I don't know if your Medicare is in place. I had more money troubles after I had to pay COBRA. Short term disability lasts 3 months then you need long term disability coverage. Most companies buy both. Once you apply for and receive Social Security disability pay, which you will be required to do, that amount will be subtracted from your insurance payments. Also if you receive a lump sum back payment from Social Security you will have to send it all to the insurance company because they have been "overpaying" you.

Next making them fire you. You will be able to collect unemployment most likely. Your payments may or may not be enough. For most states you can go online and calculate. Although it is possible they could say you were fired for refusing to do your job, traveling, and you could be denied. Or you could sue for discrimination and possibly succeed. The big downside here is if the company owns the disability insurance policy, once you're fired you can't use it.

Unfortunately, once you are on disability they do a review at the 2 year mark. Most companies will then declare you are not disabled and stop paying you. They stopped mine. They claimed I did not provide enough proof I was disabled. When I asked what proof they needed they said they are not allowed to tell me. I had to get a lawyer and sue.

I suspect at this point you do need the advice of an employment lawyer. It will cost you money now but probably save you in the end. Good luck.

[tiredandthirsty]

Hi Jeanna,

Thanks a lot for such an elaborate response.  I had no idea about half these things. i do have a couple of questions if you don't mind. 

why would i need SS disability if my company buys ST and LT disability through another company.  i was under the impression i wouldn't have to go through SS to get my disability.  i have both ST and LT through work.  who will require me to get SS disability pay?  the insurance company? that's odd.  i have been paying into the ST and LT disability for 5 years now and they still would require me to go to SS for disability?

i am not going to let them fire me.  there are too many downsides for it.  biggest being losing health insurance.  i don't think i can afford that big of a hit.

also, regarding your suggestion to get a lawyer, is that for now or later when the "review" period comes up?

Thanks once again for your response.

[jeannea]

The lawyer would be for now if you want to decide disability vs. termination. Or if you want to fight for your job. If you've already decided, you don't need one.

Your disability insurance company is who will require you to apply for Social Security disability. The whole law on this is very favorable to the insurance companies and very unfavorable to us. Look up ERISA.

If the insurance company ever denies you payments get a lawyer right away. You only get so many days to appeal. In my policy I only got one appeal. If I had tried on my own first the lawyer couldn't have helped me. And the lawyer can get you a settlement but there are no punitive damages.

I think they still have to let you buy COBRA even if you are fired. But if you go on disability the company will pay your COBRA for 6-12 months. Not sure on current law.

I've been through a big mess. I learned a lot. Ask any other questions you have and I'll try.

[tiredandthirsty]

Hi jeanna,

thank you very much for your response yet again.  very helpful.

as i said, i am not going to let them fire me.  too much downside risk there. COBRA i have heard is super expensive and i read a little about our short term disability and it seems as if for ST disability the same amount will be deducted from the disability check as it is currently from my paycheck.  so it will be a whole lot cheaper if only for 6 months.  after that it seems like cobra comes into play.  i have already talked to the social worker at the clinic and she has mentioned that we will try to get you some help with the cobra payment.  i hope i can make some headway there.  i will certainly look into ERISA. i have never heard of it.

one more question.  since i am in the pretty early phase right now, i don't know what to ask.  would it be ok if i send you a message in the near future if something odd comes up and maybe you can help me with some advice/tips/suggestions? 

[jeannea]

Of course. Send me a message any time.

[tiredandthirsty]

thank you jeanna.  very very much.  i really appreciate it.

[tiredandthirsty]

Hello all,

wanted to provide an update on this.  instead of opening up a whole new thread, i thought i'd just write it here. 

so, I MANAGED TO SAVE MY JOB FOR ANOTHER 6 MONTHS!  BOOYAH!!  i called and emailed anybody and everybody asking for help.  and somehow it worked.  i have managed to earn 6 more months. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your posts, advice, suggestions, tips etc.  I am really very grateful for all of it.

hope you are all well and keep on doing well forever.