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Epic workplace fail.
Here I am, awake at half past 6 in the morning, unable to sleep any longer because Rei and I went to bed early last night in preparation for his pointlessly early shift at work today. Only he won't be able to go in to work for that shift because he's in so much pain from the chronic health condition that his workplace refuses to accommodate. And he can't call in sick yet, despite his shift starting in only half an hour, because despite the fact that people should be there right now, nobody's answering the phones.
There are no words. I truly despise his bosses for being so negligent and dismissive and outright cruel. It isn't as though they haven't received two doctor's note recommending they give him certain considerations to help with the condition. It isn't as though his condition isn't recognised. It isn't as though he's just pushing for accommodations and not showing any signs of illness, as he was forced to take 30 sick days last year.
Those were days when the pain was so bad that he couldn't really walk without assistance. Pain any less than that, pain that maybe only caused him to double over every once in a while and break out in sweating and chills and be forced to sit down and rest every half hour... That, he'd work through*.
The condition that shouldn't be so disabling has practically turned into a full-blown disability for Rei, because his workplace won't make a few simple schedule adjustments and allow him things like predictable work hours or regular eating and resting times. This is a day when his pain is so bad that the standard procedure for us both is to carry around our cell phones, in case he needs help doing such "trifling" things as walking three feet from the bathroom back to bed. Today is a day I won't leave the apartment unless it's with him, in case I'm needed to get him a drink or his medication or any number of little things that healthy people take for granted the ability to do.
He's in the process of taking this matter to higher powers. The Human Rights Commission can do nothing until he's taken this as far as possible within his company's politics, so he has to contact the regional office to see if they can force him particular store to to stop being ass-backwards about accommodating for a chronic health condition. If they insist on not doing anything, only then can he take this to a government committee instead. It could take a year to sort this all out because of beaurocracy, another year where Rei has to worry about spending days in pain, worrying whether he'll be able to make it in for his shift, wondering whether regular eating and resting times will even make a difference when he's too sick and tired and hurting to eat anything.
I hope it stops when the regional office hears what's been going on. Realistically, though, it won't. His workplace is one that follows in the grand footsteps of Wal-Mart, complete with human rights violations, health code violations, low work hours, and corporate bullshit. I hope it will stop, but realistically, this issue will probably have to be taken as far as it can possibly go to get any results at all.
A person shouldn't have to involve the Human Rights Commission to get simple accommodations like this. It shouldn't have to go further than the workplace manager. But this time, it has to, because it seems that the higher up on the ladder of command one goes there, the less people are able to tell their asses from their elbows.
They disgust me. It's thanks to them that Rei is now going to spend today feeling guilty about not being able to go to work, filled with almost twice the recommended daily dose of painkillers, probably an anti-nauseant, two different kinds of prescription medication, potentially a few kinds of other pills to manage additional symptoms, lying on the couch with a heat pack on the worst of the pain, getting most of his hydration through an herbal tea that we've discovered helps with pain and inflammation.
All because of a condition that, when properly managed with such simple things as a regular living and working schedule, a good diet, and regular exercise, shouldn't cause more than an occasional bout of discomfort.
* Rei said that if he stayed home every time the pain was only that bad, he would have actually worked for 30 days last year instead of being absent that amount.
There are no words. I truly despise his bosses for being so negligent and dismissive and outright cruel. It isn't as though they haven't received two doctor's note recommending they give him certain considerations to help with the condition. It isn't as though his condition isn't recognised. It isn't as though he's just pushing for accommodations and not showing any signs of illness, as he was forced to take 30 sick days last year.
Those were days when the pain was so bad that he couldn't really walk without assistance. Pain any less than that, pain that maybe only caused him to double over every once in a while and break out in sweating and chills and be forced to sit down and rest every half hour... That, he'd work through*.
The condition that shouldn't be so disabling has practically turned into a full-blown disability for Rei, because his workplace won't make a few simple schedule adjustments and allow him things like predictable work hours or regular eating and resting times. This is a day when his pain is so bad that the standard procedure for us both is to carry around our cell phones, in case he needs help doing such "trifling" things as walking three feet from the bathroom back to bed. Today is a day I won't leave the apartment unless it's with him, in case I'm needed to get him a drink or his medication or any number of little things that healthy people take for granted the ability to do.
He's in the process of taking this matter to higher powers. The Human Rights Commission can do nothing until he's taken this as far as possible within his company's politics, so he has to contact the regional office to see if they can force him particular store to to stop being ass-backwards about accommodating for a chronic health condition. If they insist on not doing anything, only then can he take this to a government committee instead. It could take a year to sort this all out because of beaurocracy, another year where Rei has to worry about spending days in pain, worrying whether he'll be able to make it in for his shift, wondering whether regular eating and resting times will even make a difference when he's too sick and tired and hurting to eat anything.
I hope it stops when the regional office hears what's been going on. Realistically, though, it won't. His workplace is one that follows in the grand footsteps of Wal-Mart, complete with human rights violations, health code violations, low work hours, and corporate bullshit. I hope it will stop, but realistically, this issue will probably have to be taken as far as it can possibly go to get any results at all.
A person shouldn't have to involve the Human Rights Commission to get simple accommodations like this. It shouldn't have to go further than the workplace manager. But this time, it has to, because it seems that the higher up on the ladder of command one goes there, the less people are able to tell their asses from their elbows.
They disgust me. It's thanks to them that Rei is now going to spend today feeling guilty about not being able to go to work, filled with almost twice the recommended daily dose of painkillers, probably an anti-nauseant, two different kinds of prescription medication, potentially a few kinds of other pills to manage additional symptoms, lying on the couch with a heat pack on the worst of the pain, getting most of his hydration through an herbal tea that we've discovered helps with pain and inflammation.
All because of a condition that, when properly managed with such simple things as a regular living and working schedule, a good diet, and regular exercise, shouldn't cause more than an occasional bout of discomfort.
* Rei said that if he stayed home every time the pain was only that bad, he would have actually worked for 30 days last year instead of being absent that amount.