Called into the office for using my insulin in staffroom

[netdogg2637]

It's such a shame the problems your having I have injected in public and don't care plus being 6ft 6 helps but I don't make it a big thing it's there problem be inject proud and then people will change or to hell with them!

 

[Spencer67]

Shocking story. I'm not too keen on injecting in public i try to be as discreet as possible if i have too, i did it in a restaurant last week as i didnt know where the loos were and just couldnt be bothered struggling to find them but all power to those who do it in the open. I think if someone did complain about me doing it in public i'd probably lose it with them just to make a point. i dont think i would do it with kids around as i wouldnt want to freak them out but adults in the workplace should just suck it up.

 

[rowan]

Why should you have to inject in the loo? Not the most hygenic of places.
I'm still shocked that there are people who object to seeing others inject insulin, what on earth is offensive about it? It's not as if they're junkies shooting up!

 

[Darwin195]

I do my insulin in staffroom when I need too! My managers tell me to do it! But yes I know how it feels but like how people look at you! It's your personal health! If you need to do it do it!

 

[Type1Bri]

Went to a pub yesterday with 11 other type 1's. All of us had lunch and tested and injected at out tables lol, nobody batted an eyelid

 

[RAH79]

Hi Beat2K

I hate it when this happens, I've read about Employment Law cases where employers have failed to support their employees with Type 1 Diabetes which have led to serious health issues for the employee. In a BT case involving a contact centre employee, (British Telecommunications plc v Pousson UKEAT/0347/SM)
it ended where he could never return to work because BT discouraged him from testing his blood sugars, and colleagues where offended because he was testing his BG in front of them. This cause him to avoid testing altogether and it ended up where he hypo'd hit his head on the floor and suffered a serious head injury! The Employment Tribunal found in the Employee's favour as the Company failed to put the reasonable adjustments in place such as providing him with time to check his BG, access to regular food and water. You could use this case to show your Manager how important it is the ensure you are given reasonable adjustments such as a quiet room to allow you to take your medication (I have attached a link here in case you need to print off the full case notes, or you can simply google the above case law and there are loads of Law Firms and HR websites that provide discussions about it- http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKEAT/2005/0347_04_0508.html). I used to use the toilet because I was afraid of people's reaction, I have now been allowed to use the First Aid Room. Or if I don't want to use that (As I've raised concerns over - what if someone is already in there!) I now check my BG and take my insulin in my car in the Car park. My manager is completely fine with this and she often says that I should tell her where my car is parked in case I'm not well.

From a HR perspective, I can understand your manager is in a difficult position as a. He does have to investigate and resolve any concerns raised by staff, however b. He also has to ensure from an Employment law perspective that you are supported at work with a medical condition. The best resolution therefore from his perspective is to ensure you have somewhere quiet to go in order to take your medication or do a blood test as a reasonable adjustment. This would also keep those unsupportive, unbelievable narrow minded colleagues of yours happy (They should wish themselves lucky that they don't have to deal with the **** that we have to!!)

I know this means that you have to change the way you do things but it's like Miklo said, people are strange and very unforgiving when they can't be bothered to consider your feelings!

Hope this helps!

 

[ConradJ]

Hi Beat2K

I hate it when this happens, I've read about Employment Law cases where employers have failed to support their employees with Type 1 Diabetes which have led to serious health issues for the employee. In a BT case involving a contact centre employee, (British Telecommunications plc v Pousson UKEAT/0347/SM)
it ended where he could never return to work because BT discouraged him from testing his blood sugars, and colleagues where offended because he was testing his BG in front of them. This cause him to avoid testing altogether and it ended up where he hypo'd hit his head on the floor and suffered a serious head injury! The Employment Tribunal found in the Employee's favour as the Company failed to put the reasonable adjustments in place such as providing him with time to check his BG, access to regular food and water. You could use this case to show your Manager how important it is the ensure you are given reasonable adjustments such as a quiet room to allow you to take your medication (I have attached a link here in case you need to print off the full case notes, or you can simply google the above case law and there are loads of Law Firms and HR websites that provide discussions about it- http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/uk/cases/UKEAT/2005/0347_04_0508.html). I used to use the toilet because I was afraid of people's reaction, I have now been allowed to use the First Aid Room. Or if I don't want to use that (As I've raised concerns over - what if someone is already in there!) I now check my BG and take my insulin in my car in the Car park. My manager is completely fine with this and she often says that I should tell her where my car is parked in case I'm not well.

From a HR perspective, I can understand your manager is in a difficult position as a. He does have to investigate and resolve any concerns raised by staff, however b. He also has to ensure from an Employment law perspective that you are supported at work with a medical condition. The best resolution therefore from his perspective is to ensure you have somewhere quiet to go in order to take your medication or do a blood test as a reasonable adjustment. This would also keep those unsupportive, unbelievable narrow minded colleagues of yours happy (They should wish themselves lucky that they don't have to deal with the **** that we have to!!)

I know this means that you have to change the way you do things but it's like Miklo said, people are strange and very unforgiving when they can't be bothered to consider your feelings!

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the lawsuit info, which I'll use if ever I'm put in that ridiculous situation.

However, I don't agree with your later sentiments and I refer back to my previous posts on this:

We don't take insulin via needles or cannulas for a laugh or perversion; we do it to stay alive. By your thinking, we should all cowtow to the ignorant and weak - minded.

Change the circumstances from Diabetes to skin colour or multiple sclerosis or something else and how does your own behaviour and excuses for others situation read?

'A wheelchair user was told not to eat in the staff dining room because their presence upset the sensibilities of their colleagues who were having lunch.'

Or...

'A person was told they could not work with their colleagues because their skin colour offended the feelings of some colleagues who considered the individuals skin colour to represent poor hygiene.'

Is this the sort of rubbish we should accept? Should we wind the clocks back and start putting people like us in cupboards for the 'shame of it'?

As @Heathenlass @Scandichic and others have said: people need to get a life - and be glad it's not them.

 

[ConradJ]

That sounds like something Jack the Ripper would do.

 

[RAH79]

Hey ConradJ

I completely agree with you, but my statement was from her Line manager's perspective and an Employment perspective because unfortunately this happens very often in the workplace. From an Organisation perspective, by offering the employee to use a safe or satisfactory room to take their medication they have met the legal aspect from an Employment law and Equalities Act viewpoint. However it doesn't mean that it feels right ethically, because the issue here is peoples narrow minded view and ignorance to other's disabilities especially those that are not visual.

The same argument could be said about using the toilet, and since we all need to go to the toilet to stay alive we wouldn't exactly drop out pants in the middle of a meeting or breakout room due to other people's reactions (I just had a visual on that and it's not pretty! LOL). However, if the employee had to change a colostomy bag in front of other during a lunch break due to their medical condition, you can almost guarantee that someone will complain regardless of the reason why they are doing it.

You applied a similar scenario to eating lunch with people of different skin colour. Your statement relates to racism, the same could be said about someone's religion and the requirement to pray at certain times of day, as a reasonable adjustment Employee's nowadays are offered a Multifaith room to use as you can understand this may cause a health & safety issue with people not taking care where they are walking.

It could be argued that Beat2K's situation is an example of Disability Discrimination. Discrimination from the legal aspect is where an individual is treated less favourable than those who do not have the Protected Characteristic. The protected characteristic in this case is the Disability. However it may not be Employment disability discrimination if the Employer has offered an alternative method of taking medication. Therefore the discrimination is initiated by the colleagues and not the Employer.

Take an example of an employee with COPD, if he or she was coughing up phlegm in the office and complaints were made by colleagues as distracting them from work or making them feel nauseus. From an Employment Law perspective it would be reasonable (if the company could support this) to allow the employee to work from home during times when their condition flairs up. This is not a way of excluding them from the office, but supporting them by continuing to work and also helping the employee to manage their condition. Another adjustment might be to move them to another office where the air condition or ventilation does not exacerbate their condition during flare ups. The terminology of "reasonableness" relates to what is reasonable by both the business and the employee to enable them to continue working and allowing them the same access as everyone else who does not have the disability. If Beat2K feels that this move is not reasonable or feels discriminated against then the next step could be to raise a grievance. The grievance could be based on discrimination and Bulling and harrassment, however Beat2K would need to provide specific examples of how they have been discriminated and what they would want the employer to do as an outcome to resolve this issue i.e for be able to inject themselves as usual. A resolution then could be that all employees are given a session about Diabetes and raise awareness. This may help but what if the complaints continue? Sometimes it's a good idea to put yourself in the managers position and to see what would be the better solution when dealing with cases like this? For instance, what if the colleague making the complaint has a phobia to needles? and if so what which would be fair in this situation? Make the person with the phobia eat at a different location on their own or ask the employee with Diabetes to take their injection in a different room? If the latter, is that because it is a life threatening condition over a Phobia which isn't? What if the person with the Phobia has nightmares and is taking anxiety medication to deal with it, or they stop eating in the breakout room because of the fear? I know this is extreme but I am just trying to get you to understand how it can become very complicated for Managers to deal with and why sometimes I guess the easier solution would be for the person with the phobia to eat at different times or the employee with Diabetes to use a different room.

I think that other Countries like America are much more accepting of people walking around with a pump on display or inject in public because people are more aware and the condition is much more common. Unfortunately I think Brits are a little bit slower with this and have an ongoing issue with accepting things they do not understand. I have been a victim of this so many times, and as a result I would rather do my injections out of the view of other people instead of feel hurt by the ignorant comments they make. Is it right? Hell no! it is each to their own I guess and I think in a situation like this it's about looking for a path of least resistance that everyone is happy with.

Something else to consider Beat2K, your manager may ask you to use a First Aid room to ensure that the needles for injections or cannulas are disposed and therefore manages any Health & Safety risks of accidentally leaving a needle it in the canteen after changing it. Not saying that you would do this, but the manager has a duty of care to manage any H&S risk and asking you to use a canister which is kept in the First Aid room is a way of managing this risk.

 

[azure]

I agree with all the people who are mightily offended at this. Insulin pens are extremely discreet. You'd have to be sitting really close to even notice the short, thin needle on them.

Someone made an anonymous complaint to the manager about me injecting in the office at my own desk, and after I'd got over the initial shock and surprise I went totally ballistic! How DARE someone sit there nosing at what I'm doing and then complain! What a selfish, pathetic person! We all sit at desks with those low 'walls' around them so this person must have had to make quite an effort to see and be offended.

I was so very angry at the idea that anyone should make a complaint, that I think I terrified my manager with my response! I also pointed out that a normal adult response would be "Oh, I'm glad I dont have to do injections every day like that" not a prissy, interfering, cowardly anonymous complaint. Nobody was making this person look.

I'm getting angry even thinking about it again! I stayed where I was and injected and tested when I needed to. I don't know what the manager said to the complainant, but I never heard another word about it.

Some people need educating (did they think I was sitting there injecting for a bit of fun?). They also need to learn to mind their own business - and to develop a bit of human empathy.

It's bad enough having diabetes without being made to feel like some kind of outcast. I'm certainly not going to hide in toilets or special rooms. Its the same as those pathetic people who complain about women breastfeeding in public - grow up and get over yourselves!

 

[Robinredbreast]

I agree with all the people who are mightily offended at this. Insulin pens are extremely discreet. You'd have to be sitting really close to even notice the short, thin needle on them.

Someone made an anonymous complaint to the manager about me injecting in the office at my own desk, and after I'd got over the initial shock and surprise I went totally ballistic! How DARE someone sit there nosing at what I'm doing and then complain! What a selfish, pathetic person! We all sit at desks with those low 'walls' around them so this person must have had to make quite an effort to see and be offended.

I was so very angry at the idea that anyone should make a complaint, that I think I terrified my manager with my response! I also pointed out that a normal adult response would be "Oh, I'm glad I dont have to do injections every day like that" not a prissy, interfering, cowardly anonymous complaint. Nobody was making this person look.

I'm getting angry even thinking about it again! I stayed where I was and injected and tested when I needed to. I don't know what the manager said to the complainant, but I never heard another word about it.

Some people need educating (did they think I was sitting there injecting for a bit of fun?). They also need to learn to mind their own business - and to develop a bit of human empathy.

It's bad enough having diabetes without being made to feel like some kind of outcast. I'm certainly not going to hide in toilets or special rooms. Its the same as those pathetic people who complain about women breastfeeding in public - grow up and get over yourselves!

Thumbs up from me an excellent post.

 

[azure]

Thank you @Robinredbreast . I never learnt who the person who complained was, but I have a suspect - and that person sits about 20ft or more away from me, so I was even more annoyed because they'd have had to make a real effort to see.

I also suggested to the manager that maybe the complainant should be spoken to as they clearly weren't working hard enough if they had time to look around the room nosing into other people's business.

Still fuming about it, as you can tell!

 

[ConradJ]

Absolutely spot on @azure!

 

[Robinredbreast]

Absolutely spot on @azure!

I would be too, you must be like a simmering volcano sometimes !! What about if someone put drops into their eyes or an inhaler their mouth, rubbed cream into their eczema, a young adolescent with severe acne, would they be called in for their inconvenient medical conditions, hmmm, probably hell no. I do my jabs out and about quietly and discreetly, no one has said anything to me. There was only one person who asked about my little granddaughter, who is also type 1. We went out for the day, to a small town feeding the ducks by a river, an older women came over and asked what I was doing, has she a medical problem, is she ill? I told the lady about her diagnosis and how she is cooping well and the lady couldn't believe she would have to do the 4 times a day injections for the rest of her life. The lady was really interested and I told her I had it too and she asked if I could buy her something with £2.00 that she gave me, the lady wouldn't take it back, and she was such a nice lady, who plucked up the courage to ask a simple question. It doesn't bother me at all, as the lady went away and I hope, more knowledgeable and understanding about the condition than before.

 

[Clairey78]

It's such a shame when something like this happens. If people are unsure about what you HAVE TO DO, maybe encourage them to come and talk to you about it. It's people's fear that makes them act like idiots. Fear of the unknown. Has your employer encouraged you to speak to your colleagues?

 

[silversurfer1953]

Sorry if i bring this up, i read a post earlier today by a teacher who experienced same thing that happened to me this morning.

My day started, but manager wanted to have a few words, said its nothing serious, then went on to say that several people have mentioned that they feel uncomfortable when i take my insulin in staff room, i use a novapen, i eat my dinner, was my plates, then take my insulin, i feel i'm discreet, i take my jumper off and just lift my sleeve, few clicks and its gone, i don't pull down my trousers or sit with a big syringe while i draw the insulin, now i've always as many of you have struggled through life trying to be accepted as having a normal life, but to be told that i should get up and go and take it else where, means i'm hiding my problem, i'm being pushed into a corner so i don't upset peoples peace, I admit i got very angry and upset, felt like crying myself as i've worked with these people for years and felt that they all understood i had Diabetes and accepted the things i have to do, but obviously not, i now feel like i've gone back to the dark ages and struggling to find how i can work with people like this who can't even speak to me about it.
I'm deeply hurt is about all i can really say.

 

[azure]

I've never been asked to speak to my colleagues about diabetes, but I'm always happy to explain to anyone who asks. I don't have a problem with people being politely curious.

But I do wonder about people who are so interested in other people's business that they have to complain. I've seen people doing medical things before in various jobs and I just assume that whatever they're doing is something they have to do. Surely that should be enough for most people?

 

[Moosepig]

What about when people put in/take out their contact lenses? Or when people put their make up on in the staff room? These are all "personal care" acts as well and you're looking after yourself like they are meeting their needs! Stick to your guns, lifes hard enough without other people giving you their issues, good luck

 

[vix107]

Balls to that, that discrimination plus considering how many times we have to put holes in our skin the last place you want to be doing it is in an unhygienic toilet where you could pick up an infection!!!! if they don't like it tell them to look the other way. I gave this exact argument to my employer and won hands down!!!

 

[Rita60]

Sorry if i bring this up, i read a post earlier today by a teacher who experienced same thing that happened to me this morning.

My day started, but manager wanted to have a few words, said its nothing serious, then went on to say that several people have mentioned that they feel uncomfortable when i take my insulin in staff room, i use a novapen, i eat my dinner, was my plates, then take my insulin, i feel i'm discreet, i take my jumper off and just lift my sleeve, few clicks and its gone, i don't pull down my trousers or sit with a big syringe while i draw the insulin, now i've always as many of you have struggled through life trying to be accepted as having a normal life, but to be told that i should get up and go and take it else where, means i'm hiding my problem, i'm being pushed into a corner so i don't upset peoples peace, I admit i got very angry and upset, felt like crying myself as i've worked with these people for years and felt that they all understood i had Diabetes and accepted the things i have to do, but obviously not, i now feel like i've gone back to the dark ages and struggling to find how i can work with people like this who can't even speak to me about it.
I'm deeply hurt is about all i can really say.