(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Disability and remote work - pt. 3 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-01-14  

Continuing my adventure in reasonable accommodation requests under the ADA:

Sorry if I’m scatterbrained here, y’all. Working in-office is exactly as bad as I expected — which means it’s causing some serious brain fog, among other things.

I was last in the office on Tuesday, and on Saturday night, I have recovered enough to… well, type this with some nontrivial effort, and not much else. I can’t think clearly enough to read a book or a newspaper article, or even knit — and that’s normally the ‘mindless’ activity I do while I read or work.

HR still hasn’t responded to my doctor’s note from January 4, or my note from January 1, both of which stated that the proposed “accommodations” won’t work for me. So… I’m working in-office on Monday and Tuesday. I do have Monday off, so maybe I’ll even manage to do a little laundry this weekend.

I admit, I’m writing this half to document the injustice, and half to try to provide hope to everyone else fighting this battle — we’re all fighting together, and maybe some of the strategies I’ve tried will work for you even if they don’t work for me.

So… let me tell you about it.

Working in office temperatures — about 78F here, which yes, is hot — makes me sick. On January 2, I was dizzy and overheated, but I’d mostly recovered by the next Monday. This week was… pretty bad. By 9:30am on Tuesday, I was shaking uncontrollably, barely able to string a sentence together, and within a hair of fainting. I couldn’t walk in a straight line, and nearly sprained an ankle before I even got to work. I had heart palpitations and heard rushing and ringing in my ears. I was so exhausted that I went home and slept for 13+ hours every day, and I’m still sleeping more than my ‘normal’.

This is all pretty textbook pre-syncope, which is medical language for “almost fainting.” It’s one of the main symptoms of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is the type of dysautonomia I have.

While the pre-syncope got better by the next day, the brain fog has persisted. I’m also having more problems with my hip than usual — probably because pain and illness are causing muscle tension, which is pulling my hip out of its socket. I spent several days after January 2 unable to walk or stand at all; I collapsed if I put weight on my bad leg.

All of that is to say: This sucks. It’s affecting me pretty badly, and the medical symptoms, while more “invisible” than a cut or bruise, are pretty obvious. My supervisor has been worried sick on my behalf, because apparently I look like a wrung-out washcloth.

(And to be clear, my direct supervisor is great. She’s sticking her neck out for me, and while I won’t give detail because I don’t want her to be reprimanded if I’m doxxed, she’s been doing everything she possibly can. This is all on HR and upper management.)

So here’s what I’m doing:

1) I’m taking supplies with me: Wheelchair, three large water bottles, salt shaker, gatorade powder, three sets of specialized ice packs to wear in a vest (expensive, but won’t cause frostbite with prolonged use), two regular ice packs, a desk fan, a small breakfast and lunch (too many or too few calories will make symptoms worse), a large-capacity cooler to carry it all in, and a notebook to log symptoms throughout the day.

This is a lot to carry. I’ve negotiated the ability to be dropped off at the front door with the building maintenance team — which I had to do because they’ve been blocking off the front driveway to ‘remind staff not to park in the front lot’. It’s only for executives.

Still, the exertion of getting to my cubicle doesn’t set my heartrate off on the right foot — and without a safe place to store my supplies, nor reimbursement to buy doubles of the more expensive supplies (the ice packs alone were $300), I need to bring them back and forth each in-office day.

2) I’m documenting everything. Not just symptoms, but what I bring back and forth, what I’ve tried to ameliorate symptoms, and any other ADA-related issues I’ve run into — for instance, the heavy locking doors which are very difficult to navigate in a wheelchair.

I’ve also been updating my coworkers — a few other folks are in the same boat with reasonable accommodations, and we’re all upset. Sending out updates, since I’ve been assured they’re appreciated and not spammy, means that anyone who has or is considering a reasonable accommodation request can use any resources I’ve gathered without outing themselves to me or the rest of the team.

3) I’ve spoken to my union again — as a state worker in California, we do have a union, but at 100,000 members, it’s a big bureaucracy to navigate with its own procedures and specialized terminology. Getting your local union staff and leaders to know who you are and fight on your behalf makes a huge difference. The union can’t fight back directly on telework, but they’ve been meeting regularly with HR to try to talk sense into them — after all, this is a huge worker’s comp claim waiting to happen.

4) I’ve been to (online) union events, like the large Q&A last week, which have given me some useful information. Apparently, we have the contractual right to form a workplace health and safety committee — and forcing people to work in unsafe conditions because their disability is not accommodated, not to mention a total lack of covid-19 precautions or exceptions for immunocompromised or quarantining individuals… That sure sounds unsafe to me. I’m waiting to hear back from my local chapter president on feasibility there, but I’ve already gathered support from my coworkers and have several people ready and willing to serve on a committee if asked.

5) I’ve talked to my state and federal congressmembers, as well as the governor’s office. You all were right — contacting the federal-level congresspeople was a great call.

(And shoutout to US Rep. Thompson’s office, who responded within about 12 hours, and sent me the state-level contact information I needed, explained procedures, and offered to ping the state-level congressmembers’ staff if they weren’t getting back to me. It’s a small thing, but they did a great job and I was very impressed. His office is the only one which has returned my emails; I’m sure the staff at every office are quite busy, but it was a stark contrast.)

Apparently, emailing the state congressmembers’ offices isn’t a great way to get ahold of them, at least in my area, despite the contact forms on their websites — it’s much more effective to call the local field office. What you need is a “constituent service request form”, which they can provide you, and which gives them permission to advocate on your behalf to state agencies. I believe something similar exists on the federal level and in other states.

No word back from their government liaison yet, but that might have some effect.

6) I’ve emailed the local paper, specifically the journalist who covers the state legislature and budget. I haven’t heard back yet, but I plan to follow up again this weekend, and if I don’t hear back by next weekend, I’ll branch out to other local newspapers, TV, and radio.

7) I’ve continued to follow up with HR and executives at work. My position and assigned work mean that I’ve interacted with a lot of fairly important people at work, and I’m not trying to hide the situation. I plan to warn anyone who tries to schedule a meeting on my in-office days that they may want to reschedule — because while I’m willing to meet, I really do feel like I’d be wasting their time if we tried to have a serious, informative meeting while I’m barely holding onto consciousness. I’m not sure how effective this will be, and it does feel a little manipulative, but it’s also true. Trying to hide what’s being done to me doesn’t help my cause.

8) I’ve reached out to our family lawyer (who did our wills/estate planning/POA) to ask for recommendations on employment and disability lawyers. No dice there, but worth a try.

9) I’ve reached out to Disability Rights California, a group which does legal advocacy for disability-related claims. I expect them to get back to me within a week or two, to either help directly or refer me to local lawyers and organizations that may be able to help. If they don’t end up being helpful, I have a list of other organizations to contact (partially built by talking to you guys — thanks!)

10) I’ve asked US Rep. Thompson’s office to consider legislation which would protect remote work as a reasonable accommodation. Briefly, if someone has a documented disability, their doctor agrees it would be best treated by telework, and their work has no physical component — my suggestion is that it should be assumed that telework is reasonable ‘by default’, and the burden of proof that it poses an undue hardship to the employer should lay upon the employer. As it stands, the only recourse for disabled folks is this long, complex, potentially expensive process, which is likely to push people out of their jobs before they can prove their request ‘reasonable’. Maybe nudging the burden of proof toward the employer’s side would help.

11) I’ve asked HR for information on worker’s compensation, so I can determine if and when I’ll need to file as my medical symptoms get worse. My doctor has advised me to see a doctor for every incident because then I’ll have a paper trail proving my symptoms, so this is on the agenda.

All of which is to say: It’s not hopeless. It’s exhausting, and I’m tremendously privileged to be pretty good with paperwork and safe enough from retaliation to raise a ruckus. But hopefully some of this is helpful to the other folks fighting this fight — and at least it means more people might hear about it. This should outrage all of us, and while I’m feeling the urge to give in to dull resignation… it’s worth fighting, especially because I’m fighting for my coworkers and not just myself.

Here’s the message I sent our department director on the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in response to her fairly milquetoast holiday message, since it’s timely:

[Director] with respect, it feels a bit hollow to praise the value of unique gifts and talents, without also mentioning our unique limitations and needs, which often inform the unique perspectives we bring to the table as public servants. While I know you’ve heard this many times before, in light of Dr. King’s legacy, I would ask that you consider the need for reasonable accommodations in our current return-to-office initiative. Those of us with disabilities which preclude in-office work have unique talents we bring to the table, and all we ask is that we be allowed to work and serve in a way that won’t put us in the hospital. The small number of us who truly cannot work in-office would have no more effect on office collaboration than our colleagues who work in different parts of the state – who are valued members of our teams despite their physical absence. As Dr. King said, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” It would be a great loss to the department and the state if our disabled colleagues are forced to leave [our department], or heaven forbid, suffer a serious injury in the office. Public service is, in large part, what makes California a great place to work and live, and no one knows that better than those of us who rely on the state’s services and advocacy. We work for [our department] because we know and love the legacy of public service that came before us, and we want to be a part of it. In light of the holiday, please, consider amending the current policy to allow remote work for those of us who cannot work in the office due to disability. Thank you for your consideration. I hope you and yours have a happy holiday weekend.

Solidarity, y’all. I’m back in the office on Tuesday. Hope I have better news soon.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/14/2217292/-Disability-and-remote-work-pt-3?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/