disciplinary at work due to migraine attacks
Hi all,
I have suffered for 30 years and generally have an attack every six weeks which will last for a few days.
My employer has given me a stage 2 sickness disciplinary due to time off with migraines.
I'm wondering if anyone has been in the same position and other than use my union, what did you do/say to help your cause and keep your job?
Thanks for reading
Metallijack
, thank you for your question. I also would like to welcome you to our community. We are glad you're here. Working with migraine disease can be quite challenging. My husband suffered from migraine for years until he became chronic and could no longer work. I'll attach an article he wrote about some of that experience. I'm not sure where you are located, but he did some basic things that helped. We are in the US, so some of this may not apply if you are not. Getting what you experience during an attack cycle documented by a doctor or specialist is important. This documentation helps show the impact it is having on your life is real. An outside person, who most likely will be unsympathetic, may understand that. Along the documentation lines, tell your supervisors about your disabling attacks. This includes Human Resources. Make sure there is some type of documentation. There is also Family Medical Leave Protection(FMLA) that you can apply for if you meet the requirements. If you are working steadily, you will most likely meet the requirements. FMLA leave basically gives you 12 weeks of protected time off due to illness, and it can be done as intermittent leave. My husband used this to break the time into smaller bits to cover his attack cycles. Your employer may have rules about using PTO time during the FMLA leave, but the bottom line is that it protects your job from being impacted by attack-related absences. If there are conditions at work that trigger your attacks, you can ask for reasonable accommodations. Some employers are ok with this, while it is a struggle with others. Your union may offer other types of protections as well. I have no experience in that area. If you feel you are being discriminated against due to your attack-related absences, you can also file a complaint with your employer and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission(EEOC). The bottom line is you want to have a solid foundation documenting your disabling condition and how it impacts your life. I hope this helps a bit. Warmly, Cheryl migraine.com team
https://migraine.com/living-migraine/work-fmla-experience
https://migraine.com/forums/do-you-work-with-migraines-share-your-experience-here, I'm fully versed in how the NHS system works, but the basics of getting things well-documented should be a great place to build your foundation. Having an invisible disease like migraine makes things tough. It seems like we must constantly 'prove' that what we experience is real. Perhaps members from the UK will pop in and lend their experience. Warmly, Cheryl migraine.com team
Welcome!! Thank you for sharing this with us. I'm sorry you are going through this with your employer right now. I understand how frustrating this is.
I wanted to share The Migraine Trust, a organization based in the UK that may have information that will be useful; https://migrainetrust.org/.
Please keep us posted on how things are going and I'm wishing you a low pain day, Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Leader/Moderator
Migraine.com Team
Yes I had disciplinarys and lost my job in the end.
