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Help!

Mon, April 06, 2009 12:02 PM

Hi All,

I'm wrting today because I've found myself in a difficult situation. I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease in 2004 and have had the normal periods of flare-ups as well as remission over the past 5 years. Right now, however, I'm in a flare-up phase and I'm having a lot of trouble with nausea and vomiting (which started in January). The doctor gave me Zofran and Remeron and together they generally help to prevent the dry heaving and nausea but it doesn't always work. I recently talked to some people and found out that these are "classic" signs of IBD. Since I've never experienced this before, I had no idea how much of a problem it was going to cause in my personal and professional life.

I've missed a lot of work (about 72 hous in the past four months) and I'm currently facing a situation with my great grandmother who is going to pass away soon. I do not have a lot of PTO (paid time off) since I've been so sick and wrote to ask her about how to go about handling the situation. She informed me of the following:

"I am not going to be able to authorize a whole lot of unpaid leave since you have already taken some very recently. HR needs to limit how often this happens and I need to ensure I have a consistent full time employee to take care of our clients and give them the consistency they need. Unfortunately, this would not count as FMLA because you have not been with the company for a year."

So, my question is this: First, is there anything that I can do to get this illness under control? Second, is this really legal for them to do that? It's one thing to relate missing a lot of time from work due to illness but to relate it to death and loss is another thing.

Any help anyone could provide is greatly apprecieated!

mdguysc
Joined Apr 1, 2009

Mon, April 06, 2009 12:00 AM

Reply posted for mdguysc.

Personally, I don't know all the legalities involved with CD/UC. I did some netdiving, though, and ran into two things you should check out.

First, you'll want to investigate the Disability Discrimination Act. CD/UC people are protected.

Secondly, you might qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/83562/applying_for_social_security_disability.html?cat=5

If things are really urgent, contact a lawyer. Preferably a lawyer who specializes in disability or occupational law. The lawyer can at least point you in the right directions, even if you don't need representation.

griffn
Joined Apr 5, 2009

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