Joe
02-03-2006, 03:44 PM
This message was sent to me via email, it is sent anonymous for obvious reasons. I am trying to schedule a guest for a teleconference who will answer questions about job discrimination, insurance problems and medicaid.
Regards
Joe
SUBJECT: Discrimination in the workplace
Hi Everyone:
I am a regular member of this site, but I decided to post this problem anonymously because I don't want my employer getting a hold of this.
I have worked for my employer for over 10 years. My primary function was as an executive secretary/desktop publisher/ graphic designer. I performed many, many hours of overtime. So much so that overtime was a significant part of my annual income. Before I got cancer, I was a lead hand in many significant projects and the employer spent many thousands of dollars on me in education. I had risen in the ranks rather quickly.
While I was off on sickleave, the company put a temp in my position. Unfortunately, the temp didn't have my skill-set to do my job so the work was farmed out to other desks. My regular workload was so significant that they were forced to hire two people to cover it. The people that they hired were very skilled.
Now that I've come back - the job that I am doing is the job that the low-skilled temp that was placed in my position was doing. Very low-end supportive secretarial work. The only thing the same about my job is that I am at the same desk. All the real meat of my work has been farmed out to the new hires, and I am stuck supporting them. All my years of evening college study and computer skills that I worked to gain are now being thrown away. Instead of a lead hand, I am doing mindless data entry. I also don't get any overtime even though I am as capable as previously. All my interesting high-end work has been creamed off to other desks (office politics -everyone is scrabbling to get ahead), and to make matters worse, they have memorialized this work in their job descriptions so that I can't get it back - ever. It's like starting at the very bottom of the hierarchy again as the most junior person.
Management (the whole management team is completely new since I went off) says that I must "prove" myself, and in a few years when the new people move on etc, maybe I can can have one of their positions. They can't understand why I am continually angry and upset about the situation. In fact the "newbies" continually ask me how to do my old work!!!!!!
I have approached my union for help, and they say that even though I am doing stuff that was never in the job description of the job that I posted into "management has the right to manage". And apparently even though I have the title and the job desription and the pay, management has the right to assign me all the entry level dirt-work they want. Even though I never did it before. There is nothing that I can do.
This is a disaster for any future career progression within the company as well as for looking for new work outside of the company as my main functions are to do with computers. I must not only keep up skills in all the most current software, but if I don't use them regularly, I or I will lose them. And all the years and years of classes I spent to get them will be permanently wasted. But who is going to hire a new person who must go in for Herceptin, MUGAs and Dr's appointments all the time?
I feel depressed and isolated on the job. My employer is activly isolating me from my collegues by giving me the most menial work to perform and cutting off my reporting lines. Because they are relegating me to all the "grunt" work I am no longer an important member of my production team and of course am missing out on all the experience necessary to make my next career move/promotion.
Looking back, I suddenly realize that certainly within this company this is not the first time that this has happened. (I just didn't pay attention to other's problems!) I am aware of at least 3 other people who went off on sick leave for significant periods of time and when they came back their jobs and/or their situations within work teams had been mucked around with so much, that they all left or were forced out in one way or another. The sickleave people that were singled out for this treatment were only ones who had been diagnosed with illnesses that might reoccure.
How common is this type of discrimination?
I have already sought a professional opinion and apparently this type of discrimination is very difficult ot prove and likely I don't have anything that I can sue on. (I am not American so the barrier to proof is likely higher than what your's are).
Has anyone else experienced this in their workplace?
Anonymous
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif
Regards
Joe
SUBJECT: Discrimination in the workplace
Hi Everyone:
I am a regular member of this site, but I decided to post this problem anonymously because I don't want my employer getting a hold of this.
I have worked for my employer for over 10 years. My primary function was as an executive secretary/desktop publisher/ graphic designer. I performed many, many hours of overtime. So much so that overtime was a significant part of my annual income. Before I got cancer, I was a lead hand in many significant projects and the employer spent many thousands of dollars on me in education. I had risen in the ranks rather quickly.
While I was off on sickleave, the company put a temp in my position. Unfortunately, the temp didn't have my skill-set to do my job so the work was farmed out to other desks. My regular workload was so significant that they were forced to hire two people to cover it. The people that they hired were very skilled.
Now that I've come back - the job that I am doing is the job that the low-skilled temp that was placed in my position was doing. Very low-end supportive secretarial work. The only thing the same about my job is that I am at the same desk. All the real meat of my work has been farmed out to the new hires, and I am stuck supporting them. All my years of evening college study and computer skills that I worked to gain are now being thrown away. Instead of a lead hand, I am doing mindless data entry. I also don't get any overtime even though I am as capable as previously. All my interesting high-end work has been creamed off to other desks (office politics -everyone is scrabbling to get ahead), and to make matters worse, they have memorialized this work in their job descriptions so that I can't get it back - ever. It's like starting at the very bottom of the hierarchy again as the most junior person.
Management (the whole management team is completely new since I went off) says that I must "prove" myself, and in a few years when the new people move on etc, maybe I can can have one of their positions. They can't understand why I am continually angry and upset about the situation. In fact the "newbies" continually ask me how to do my old work!!!!!!
I have approached my union for help, and they say that even though I am doing stuff that was never in the job description of the job that I posted into "management has the right to manage". And apparently even though I have the title and the job desription and the pay, management has the right to assign me all the entry level dirt-work they want. Even though I never did it before. There is nothing that I can do.
This is a disaster for any future career progression within the company as well as for looking for new work outside of the company as my main functions are to do with computers. I must not only keep up skills in all the most current software, but if I don't use them regularly, I or I will lose them. And all the years and years of classes I spent to get them will be permanently wasted. But who is going to hire a new person who must go in for Herceptin, MUGAs and Dr's appointments all the time?
I feel depressed and isolated on the job. My employer is activly isolating me from my collegues by giving me the most menial work to perform and cutting off my reporting lines. Because they are relegating me to all the "grunt" work I am no longer an important member of my production team and of course am missing out on all the experience necessary to make my next career move/promotion.
Looking back, I suddenly realize that certainly within this company this is not the first time that this has happened. (I just didn't pay attention to other's problems!) I am aware of at least 3 other people who went off on sick leave for significant periods of time and when they came back their jobs and/or their situations within work teams had been mucked around with so much, that they all left or were forced out in one way or another. The sickleave people that were singled out for this treatment were only ones who had been diagnosed with illnesses that might reoccure.
How common is this type of discrimination?
I have already sought a professional opinion and apparently this type of discrimination is very difficult ot prove and likely I don't have anything that I can sue on. (I am not American so the barrier to proof is likely higher than what your's are).
Has anyone else experienced this in their workplace?
Anonymous
http://her2support.org/vbulletin/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif