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UPDATED: Sat, 10/04/2008 - 1:33am
JinLondon
Can they legally fire me???
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Hi-
Started a new job this summer. I was honest with them when I started and they know my last tonic-clonic seizure had been about 6 weeks before, when they hired me. I also spoke to the Health Advisor HR lady, who only wanted to check that no part of my job involves swimming (random I know).
Am really enjoying my job and I know that everything is going very well so far.
BUT had a simple partial seizure at work the other day (not really thaaat dramatic, just feel like everything is strange and can't speak for a minute or so), anywho unfortunately for me my boss lady was talking to me during this and figured it out.
The next day she said me down and said that if I was having "fits" they would maybe have to reconsider my suitability for the role. When I got home that day I completely went to pieces. I mean it's been 3 months since my last big seizure, but I have no way of knowing it's never going to happen again do I???
And reading through different sites I think I have not got a leg to stand on here. My job involves often being the only manager in the building and supervising several staff. I am also the First Aider (I know a bit of a joke, really....) and am responsible for evacuating the building in case of emergency (there is generally a vast amount of the public in the building), I also lock up at the end of the night at which point I am alone there.
I really enjoy what I do and it would be horrible to think that I could lose my job, because of all this rubbish. It's just not fair, I am very good at my job and couldn't they also technically fall down the stairs, faint, or whatnot during their Duty Management shifts???
I pretty much shut her up that day by telling her that I only had that "mini-seizure" that day, because I had had the flu and wasn't feeling well (not strictly true, but I haven't been having them that often).
So what do I do know? Just get on with things and pray that I NEVER have a tonic-clonic at work or near anyone from work????
By JinLondon at Sat, 10/04/2008 - 1:33am | 89 views | 7 comments
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Recent Comments on this Discussion
In a perfect world.....people should cater to other people's needs, not kick them out so they don't have to deal with it or take responsibility. And that's what I think bosses are afraid of: taking responsibility for other people. In a perfect world, the company should cater to your special needs, always make sure you never have to work alone, always make sure you get time to eat and rest and drink, and always make sure people know what to do when you are having a seizure. It's a shame most of us have to keep things a secret because we know it's not a perfect world and hardly anyone wants to deal with somthing too complicated as someone else's health. All I ever see being proactively done is the laws that make companies spend extra money to make facilities wheelchair acessable puting ramps and making bigger bathroom stalls. But if HR can't garantee the company will be able to cater to your specific needs, restrictions, etc, then what's the point in hoping that your boss will keep you? They are more worried about saving their butts if anything happens to you, which is right for them to feel, but unfortunatly most companies solve that by not letting the guy stay there and work. It's about time people thought differently about things like this, but even if they are forced to make wheel chair ramps, thier hearts are not really in it when they make one, you can't change a person's attitude towards disability, you can only force them to do things under law. So I really hope you can find a law that protects you. Good luck to you my friend, it's harsh out there in the world.
Thank you! I can't believe this has happened to so many of you. The problem in my case is that I don't think my employer is evil, she simply thought that since I am taking medication I am "cured". You know like taking anti-biotics.
What I was reading on the legal sites doesn't give me a whole lot of hope. It always says that they can't legally fire you unless you are a health & safety risk to yourself or others. So they could argue that if I were to have a seizure at work and there was an emergency (fire, injured patron, etc) I would not be able to respond at all or appropriately. Meaning I lose.
Which again I think is not fair, since one of my co-workers is pregnant and doesn't that -increase her chances of fainting??? Another co-worker has mild diabetes, again could pass out!!!
Worst part is that now I feel like I can't say anything. I have been working everyday this week and will do so again today. Yesterday I worked a twelve hour shift, didn't get a chance to eat or drink a thing (apart from a sip of water with my meds...) till 6pm as I was rushing around non-stop and part of my fab day involved standing next to a literally boiling hot plate for an hour (not usually part of my job, but we all cover for each other) and I just kept thinking, great I am going to drop on this thing and burn myself to death, I mean I am really just asking for it here. But since my conversation with my boss, I am just scared of losing my job.
Oh well, off to get ready for work.
Thank you for your support!!! J
"I watched a video of Princess Diana's funeral after going out last night...I was just in the mood, you know???" - my friend Mark. Literally amazing.
"Crying is the refuge of plain women; pretty women go shopping" - Oscar Wilde
I was working as an educator in special education. I didn't tell anyone about my seizures as they are complex partial and I don't even twitch during them. BUT one of my aides noticed one day while we were waiting for the busses to arrive that I was having one. I sat down to have it. Well, the administrators found out. The principal was fine with it and so were the other teachers. But when the dir. of special services found out, she treated me like I had a contagious disease. All of the sudden, everything I did was wrong and before I knew it, she found a way to get rid of me. She essentially eliminated my job. It hurt a LOT. So, from my experience, here's what to do. Find out what the law says...knowledge is power. If I had known, I would have taken early steps to stop the harassment. Make sure you're taking care of yourself so that your seizures can't happen any other way than by breaking through (sick, or ineffective meds). Finally, keep communicating with people who are in the same boat as you. I so wish I had found this website earlier. I knew NO one else with seizures/epilepsy when I was going through troubles at work and it made everything more difficult. Just know that we're here and we're in the same boat! Good luck!
Hi JinLondon. I know exactly how you feel. I had the same problem with a job i had last year. I started having my seizures 3 years ago a few weeks after I turned 24 (I just turned 27 in August). I had a very violent Tonic-Clonic seizure in August 2005 while I was working at the on campus snack bar at the college I was attending. Last year I was working at a day care (I have a BS in Child Development) where I was honest as well. I was asked to have a letter sighned by my neuroligist saying that I was ok to work in the day care. Since I was still new to my seizures I was still trying to find the medications that would work. I eventually had 3 Tonic-Clonic seizres while at work. Luckily nobody was hurt and the directors were able to get me out of the room before I started convulsing. My last grand mal was last November 2007, while at work as well. By January2008 a couple of weeks after new year's. I was told that a parent claimed that I hurt thier child and that they wanted me fired. When I was told this I of course was torn to pieces, because I did not know what to think. I knew that i did not do anything wrong, but I knew that there was the posability that I would have had a very tiny seizure even if it was only for like 30sec. I told my neurologist the next time I saw him, because I knew that legally I could not be fired because of my ilness, but i knew that it happend to people all the time. He told me that I could try to fight it, but it could blow up into something i would not be able to handle. I couple of weeks after i was fired. I was walking to a nearby Staples, when the mother of the child that i had suposedly hurt stopped and asked if I needed a ride some where (I know, it does not make any sence huh?) I was of course afraid of her at first, but then decided to take her offer because i really wanted to ask her about it. She actually claimed that she never said anything like that and that I was her daughter's favorite teacher. This woman was also a nurse at the Epilepsy Monitering Unit at my local hospital and had seen me there that summer, so she knew all about me.
I still don't know who was telling the truth or even if they were or not. But all I know is that no employer is legally allowed to fire people because of thier disabilities because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but I know and have been told by others that employers have thier ways of "sugar coating" or finding thier way around that law. I even got a hold of my old Acedemic Advisor from college about it, and she said so herself that unless I can provide some kind of truth that I can do more damage than what it is worth, especially for a low-paying job such as that one.
My advice to you is to just hang in thereand see what happens as long as you know your rights than you should be fine. It is totally up to you. Best wishes!
Anna
Maybe the new amended Americans With Disabilities Act will protect us more now since the Supreme Court effectively excluded medically treated epilepsy as a protected disability under the original Act.
With the Rehabilitation Act protecting me twenty years ago with an OPM regulated federal employer who had to give me a job then fire me if I could not do it, I simply did not get the job.*
With me still demanding my job, just before my last oral appearance in the Federal Court of Appeals, an appellate attorney refused to represent me, and gave the explanation that a $200,000 victory was not enough to cover the expenses. He then lectured me that a complaint with the EEOC under the Act had a statistical Expected Value of about $3,000, even with a good case and ten years of back wages, and the chances of being a token case was about as good as .... (no comment).
I suffered my typical monthly gran mal about a week before the oral argument court date, continued to have simple/complex partials that really mess up my speech, but was lucky enough to just have just mild simple partials on the court date, and lost the case.
Rhetorically: "Private employers may not have bottomless pockets for legal expenses as the feds do, and that helps us as a consideration for quick resolution in the near future with employer disputes, but with what balance of delay? And, how can we make this help right now?"
Good Luck!
*(i.e., I was on the jobs certificate, they used it, they missed the time limit on removing me from the jobs certificate, one of the jobs was still open, I was there to fill it, and nobody else was, but that became an insignificant technicality! After about ten years with the EEOC and Federal courts, and with victories with some appeals back and forth, I tried to get a specialized lawyer to represent me when the Federal Appeals Court granted me the right to present oral arguments in front of them (my other lawyers dumped me early on).
Here is a link to another discussion on the same thing.
http://www.epilepsy.com/discussion/975471
I am so sorry this is happening! I know it is NOT legal to discriminate based on religion, race, sexual orientation or ability/disability. This just makes me so angry.
I wish I had more words of wisdom for you!
Angela
mom to Jack Riley born 3/5/03 @ 25 weeks, 2lbs now 5 years old
Spastic Triplegia Cerebral Palsy, Hydrocephalus (VP Shunt), Seizure Disorder
http://www.jackrileywilhelm.blogspot.com
g morn jin............i am not a lawyer so i can't answer that.............but u need to be honest with yourself...........u have to make sure your getting enough sleep.......enough to eat........proper meds and no stress..............these are all triggers for sz's.............congrats on the new job as well..............and u are correct jin it's not fair.............but were all in the same boat.................please be careful..............take care and god bless...............scratch