Lack of Compassion in Corporate America

[Annemarie]

Hi,
I am so annoyed! I was diagnosed 6 years ago with breast cancer and 5 years ago with mets to the brain. My job has been wonderful about time off and sick days up until a year ago I got a new boss.

I work for a Fortune 100 company and we have unlimited sick days. My boss says that getting brain MRI's and Herceptin are medical accomadations and not sick days so therefore I must use my vacation days. Previous managers have not had this policy. I called HR and it is up to the individual manager. I schedule my appts. on Fridays because it takes me a few days to recover emotionally. My manager e-mailed me asking me not to only take Fridays! I responded that I was unaware our company had a restriction on what days of the week we took vacation. I am so darn mad I cannot tell you. This woman is young and just has no compassion. Like Friday brain MRI's are more fun than on other days? Go figure.

[RhondaH]

I used FMLA (they HAVE to give you that, per the government) and I used it instead of my vacation OR sick days. I would check into that if I were you.

Rhonda

[Annemarie]

The Family Leave Medical Act is good if you need a few weeks off at a time but what about for a day? This pushes people like me out the door who need to take care of their health but are well enough to work.

[Becky]

Since you work for a large company (as do I and I am a manager of 10 people), you can use Family Leave/Short Term Disability AND you can use it for (X) hours per day, week, month. When getting my Herceptin, my boss did not make me do this because his rationale is that I do excessive business travel and therefore work more than 40 hrs a week anyway but I could take short term disability for 3 - 4 hours every 3 weeks to get my Herceptin if I needed to do that.


There are rules and laws that companies with more than 10 employees need to follow and it gets more regimented when there are more than 50 employees. Discuss this with your HR department. You have the right to treatment that they cannot deny you. Taking Fridays (which I do) even further shows your commitment to work so you use your own weekend to recover (as I do since the treatments make me very tired).

Look into it.

Kind regards

Becky

[tousled1]

I know about the FMLA. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true when you use FMLA you do not get paid for that time?

[Annemarie]

The FMLA is a non-paid leave. My boss has me take vacation days for brain MRI's which I think is out rageous. Then I usually schedule my "vacation days" on Fridays and was told to rolate it around the days. As I mentioned in the above posts I need some time to get over all the anxiety that each brain MRI brings. There is just such a lack of compassion I feel with this manager. Having had brain mets 3 times I am not a faker. This week may conclude my 10 year career because I need to take care of my health. This is just adding to my stress. We will be fine.

[Susan2]

It's bad enough that you have to go through this, but to have to put up with that is unbelievable. Check your employee handbook. Are all dr. appts / medical tests considered medical accomodations or just yours? Since that is an employee benefit, I would clarify with HR (in writing) that managers have discretion over classification. It should be the same for all employees within a given "employee class".

Good luck.
Susan

[mts]

MRI's and Herceptin are medical accomodations...? What a joke! We're talking life saving necessities not band-aids. Does your boss know that Herceptin is billed as a chemotherapy? Does she use her vacation day to get a mammogram?

I would ask her to define a "medical accomodation"... I have never heard that phrase before as a reason not to take a sick day. Maybe you should get a doctor's note explaining the medical necessity of your treatments.

I hope that if she dissallows your taking of sick days, that you find the strength to barf on her desk!

Maria (MTS)

[MaggieD]

I work for a large company also. I looked into this recently for one of my employees (and am considering it myself later on based on my sister's condition). I'll include some of our program details here...however here is the US Dept of Labor FMLA web site for the official information:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

Generally, under FMLA our company offers....

- Up to 12 weeks unpaid leave per calendar year for a serious health condition or to care for eligible family mangers who have a serious health condition (and also some other criteria most likely of lesser interest to this group). It notes that similar leave opportunities may be available in the state where you work, for example, the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).

-There are qualification requirements, for example you must have worked 12 months of cumulative service prior to the leave. Applications need to be submitted 30 days prior to the leave. There is a list of documentation that is needed, including a note from a doctor supporting the leave request (although you don't have to specify the details of your medical reason...for your case, a doctors note stating that you need to receive treatement at specific intervals would be OK).

- Not sure if this is specific to all FMLA, but at my company you can apply your available time off (i.e. saved vacation) to receive pay for part or all of your leave. It also indicates that “intermittent” or “reduced schedule” FMLA can be taken under certain circumstances which indicates you can take 1/2 days if need be. One of the circumstances listed is for planned or unplanned medical treatment of a serious health condition.

Hope this helps. It is a real shame that your manager isn't more sensitive to these types of situations!
<O:p
Maggie

[janet/FL]

I had a boss like this. She was very controlling and worked to make my life stressful. I later found out she was gay and didn't like that I turned her down. (I didnt' even know she was gay and that wouldn't have mattered--it was the way she treated me. And she knew I was married! Go figure.)
Janet

[Annemarie]

Hi,
I did have the option of FLMA where I would get no pay and have to reimburse the company approx. $800 per month for my health benefits. I worked for a pharmaceutical company who makes a profit selling cancer drugs for breast cancer. Our company has unlimited sick days. I consider cancer to be an chronic illness so if I need testing it should be a sick day. All of my other managers were great. It is a very gray area what should be an sick day and what should be a medical accommidation day. Truthfully I think she is just a controlling young woman who has never had anything bad ever happen to her (yet) and lacks compassion. I do not dislike her because otherwise she was fine and my company is a great company. Like everything in life sometimes you get the wrong person incharge. That is why it is good to put people incharge who have some life's experience which generally comes with age. She is 32- the age in which I was first diagnosed.

[Hopeful]

Annemarie,

It appears to me from reading your post that your employer is aware of your specific illness. This is going to sound a little paranoid, but I have extensive experience in the insurance industry. It may be that your employer sees your heavy use of the employee health insurance plan as a factor contributing to the group plans' overall bad experience, thus driving up premiums for the employer. They could feel that by making you unhappy enough to leave the company, their plan related experience will improve. This is a really evil interpretation of their actions, but, believe me, I have seen worse. I sympathize with your position, and wish you all the best.

Hopeful

[Annemarie]

Hi,
I have read other people having exactly what you are saying but I work for a Fortune 100 company. This is just a case of a non-compassionate woman. She has some good traits but really has no understanding of what it is like to have cancer. None. She covers herself with HR before taking action so it is all legal. It is just I feel a great injustice to someone with bc. Life goes on it is just a job. I am so thankful to have my life!
Annemarie

[gin-tx]

I can't believe they're griping about using vacation days. My company won't let me use vacation days because they know I have a medical condition. If I could work 4 weeks without missing any time, all the time I've been out for surgery, short term disability, etc. would be erased. I asked if I could use a vacation day, was told no.

I too have a new young manager and I think she's going to be compassionate, this is her first time being a manager so they might try to make her be tough but so far she's been very understanding. It's easier to talk to a female than a male manager about these things.

Hope you get things worked out. Let me know.

hugs,

ginkott1@aol.com

[Annemarie]

I don't think the job place is a place for great compassion. That being said I feel the time has come for me to make my exit and enjoy however much time I have (I plan on living a long while God willing).

I have come to the point where I really don't care about money or stuff, or status. Cancer has changed all that. My life has become very simple, very basic and I focus on staying in good health and caring for my family. I get Herceptin every three weeks and go to play grounds every nice day with my baby. It is very rewarding. I would never realized what is important in life had I not had cancer.

[jones7676]

I worked for a large non-profit company that treats people with challenges such as mental illness and developmental disabilities. Our company "philosophy" includes statements about accomodating people, individualizing care etc....
I had worked for the company since 1992 and this was 2003. My boss wouldn't even allow my co-workers to donate sick time to me while going through my second bout with BC even though our policy allowed for her to go to our board and ask if they would allow it because I am the primary bread winner in my family and they were all watching helplessly as my $$$ slipped away. I was her second in command ("right hand man") and helped her double the size of the company in 3 years.

By law, she had to give me "intermittent" FMLA for treatment, but financially, my family is devasted by treating my disease. I stayed in the position because I was afraid to lose what benefits etc. I had.

Sept 1 of this year I quit the job and got a new one with a wonderful company who is currently holding my job until I find out what is going to occur with my treatment plan. I planned to COBRA my BCBS benefits for 1 1/2 years because I felt that part of the reason I was not recovering was because of working around her. I was diagnosed with my first brain met Sept 18 of this year (days later) and "technically" now I do not even have income to pay form my monthly insurance. I am scared about lack of pay, insurance, etc....but I am away from her - and it has been the most liberating experience of my life and I do not regret it.........good luck!!!

[tousled1]

I must agree that as a whole there is not much compassion in corporate america. I must admit however that with my former employer (took early retirement last year) I didn't experience lack of compassion. Four years ago my son was diagnosed with leukemia. He lived in PA and I in VA. He was hospitalized for long periods of time and I was there every minute with him. My employer did not give me a hard time about missing work for such extended periods of time. I was fortunate that I had the leave accumulated otherwise I would have had to taken the FMLA and been without pay.