Employment + Health Care: This Could Be Me

[dewline]

The exact origins of the medical issues are different, and I don't have kids to care for, but still...I've been dealing with another Spring's worth of lung issues, and the deep coughing fits do still linger for me as well.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/egan-rolled-up-pushed-out-at-tims-fired-for-too-many-sick-days

How many others, across the province? (The country? The planet?)

Comments

[thewayne]

Unfortunately I can't read the article because I block ads and they don't allow X number of free viewings per month. But corporations don't care, and I'm seeing the bigger the corporations and the lower the pay scale for the larger the number of workers (i.e. fast food), the less they care. I tried looking for a copy of this article and I searched for "Tim Hortons fired for too many sick days" and got an amazing number of hits.

Here we have something called FMLA, Family Medical Leave Act (which I'm sure Herr Groppenfuhrer will be eliminating in the next year), if you have a chronic medical condition, you can't be fired for taking too much time off sick, even if you exhaust your sick leave. I always file it because of my immune disorder. It's also usable to ensure job security to help you take care of a sick parent or child or spouse. In fact, a former boss of mine was given the option to "quit or be sued" by the city manager for failing to follow FMLA guidelines, I believe she tried to discipline an employee for taking time off sick under FMLA.

I'm finishing up my 21 day of antibiotics tonight and I'm still hacking and gacking, I've had this sinus infection since early March. I think things have improved, but there's still something going on and I dread what the treatment is going to be.

[dewline]

My empathy to you on your situation these past weeks.