• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Problems with employers & my type1 diabetes

S

singlemanriot

Newbie
Messages
4
First let me introduce myserlf I am Adrian I have been registered here for a while but I have not posted until now. I have been a Type 1 since August this year when i was rushed into hospital with severe diabetic ketone acidtosis (sp?).

My problems center around my employer and my work, I had been suffering for quite a while with diabetes and I was not aware I was suffering. Around april this year I had two unfortunate car crashes both within a week of each other. I had a fortnight off due to bad back pain and then went back. Over the next few months my performance at work slipped massively. (Although I now see I was showing symptoms of diabetes before tis and things were already going downhill)I firmly believe the stress from these two crashes made my sypmtoms far worse.

I went to the doctors finally and was confimed as a diabetic however I was told I had to wait 6 weeks (about) for an appointment at the diabetic clinic, with no treatment started from the doctor, I was given no information no blood sugar checks or anything else. This sent me even worse and in mid August I went to A&E on the advice of the NHS helpline. I was admitted for about a week as the doctors said I was 30mins away from a coma.

On return to work I found myself confronted with a performance review due to my poor performance and the amonut of time I had taken off(approx 90hrs), which was for valid medical reasons. I was told that I didnt fit in with the team on my last day of working before being admitted to hoaptal because I didnt dress up and join in the stores birthday celebrations. I tried to explain what had happened but they would not accept it as a reason for my performance.

My issues are that I seem to have to move my reigeme and my diabetes around my work, I have people going around at work claiming I am playing on the symptoms and generaly trying to prove that I am not a diabetic, I have also herd that people have accused me of taking heroin because I lost so much weight. All of this had added to the stress and at present if I genuinly feel ill at work I can't talk about it as I feel I will be accused of playing on it. There are numerous times I have had to go to work feeling pretty rough because of this.

Is there anyone who can help me with this or offer some advice? I am sorry for the wall of text but thankyou for any help you can give me, I am truely getting to my wits end now.

Thankyou
 
Hi Adrian

You have several things that you can do...

One is to ask your employers to put you through occuaptional health to assertain your fitness for work... The occupational health will lool at your past medical history and then how it will effect your futures ability to carry our your job etc... This should give the backing that your lead into your diabetes was the problem with your work profermance, and identify areas such has having breaks, access to food, hypo kit ect... It can be a hard process as I have been down this line with the Occupational Health with my old employers.. I think I'm right in saying if your company is considering reliefing you of your contract due to your health then they have to follow this route or face of possibility of you slapping them with unfair dismissal!

Also under the Disabilty Discrimination Act (2000 and something) not sure of the date, this act should ensure that a employer make reasonable adjustment to either the employee's work enviroment or duties to accommodate ther disability.... Diabetes does fall under this Act, if you google for the DDA this will give you the contact details... Give them a phone and they will give you futher information and help...

Hope that this is helpf full
 
Hi Adrian,

It seems to me that due to ignorance your employers do not understand the enormity of the diagnosis you have been given, and nor do they undertand how very ill you were before your diagnosis. They need to understand that you were critically ill, ketoacidosis will kill within hours if untreated. You have not been 'putting it on' or 'playing on it' and they need to get this message loud and clear. Perhaps you could get a letter from your Consultant or Diabetes nurse that puts this message across firmly. You will still feel unwell from time to time if your diabetes is poorly controlled - how much support are you getting from your hospital team? They need to help you get onto an even keel as you are finding it hard to do your job.

I think that part of the problem is that most people do not understand the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 and your employers and co-workers can probably think of someone they know who has Type 2 and seems to get on with their life perfectly well and think that you should be the same. But you are NOT - especially just before and after diagnosis Type 1's are often very ill. Your employers are on a steep learning curve, even though they don't know it yet! Once they understand that the day before you were diagnosed you were hours from death (without treatment), they might realise why you were in no fit state to dress up for a party :evil: !!!

The advice you have been given about Disability Discrimination is well worth following up, so please do it. Diabetes is definitely covered by the Act.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Sue
 
Thanks for the advice I will look into the DDA thing. I feel I have to agree with everything they propose and I can't go to them if I feel rough because I'll be accused of playing on it. At the moment I have to work till 9:15 instead of 8:15 due to xmas. This is playing havok with my insulin reigeme and my personal well being because I should be eating at 9 but as I said I don't feel like I can bring up the issue because it just falls on deaf ears.
 
Hi Adrian,
This is exactly why you need to get your Diabetes Nurse or preferably your Consultant to write a letter. They may be deaf to what you say, but can they really ignore your medical professionals?
Sue
 
Thanks Sue I have left a message for the diabetic nurse to get back to me. It seems the more I try to make them aware of symptoms the more it goes over their heads.
 
I can't advise on the legalities of this, but your employers sound like a right bunch of audi-driving, short sleeve shirt wearing assholes who talk about things like "getting it finished by the end of play today" and "being a team player".

Dress up? I'd have shoved a Christmas tree up their :shock: ...
 
Adrian

Your post made me simultaneously sad and angry. The pure and simple fact is that if your work dont let you make reasonable adjustments due to diabetes (under DDA) then they are breaking the law. If you need to eat and inject at 9pm, then a reasonable adjustment to your working pattern would be to allow you this time to inject and provide you with a place to do this. I was only dx in Sept, similar situation to you (narrow avoidance of DKA) and am only back at work in the past few weeks. I have a great workplace who gave met lots of support and make it easy for me to talk about things, or whip out my yoghurt in the middle of meetings without batting an eyelid. Ive even had meetings with the first aiders to show them where I keep my hypo stuff etc, and I know I am blessed to have this level of support.
Does your organisation have a human resources dept that you could speak to? Do you have an absence policy for example?
I agree with asking for a referral to Occupational Health as a way to protect yourself. They can establish an underlying disability which might be useful in times to come.

More importantly thought, if you still feel unwell, why are you at work? THis is the rest of your life and your health and if you get SSP or full wages when off then Im bloody well sure I would not be slogging my guts for people who behave like this. Do you belong to a trade union, they might be another route. If you dont get paid when off then I appreciate your quandry. They sound like horrors but I would bite the bulllet, ask for a meeting with your line manager and be very honest with him, perhaps backed up by DN support or whatever.
I am a manager in a Local Authority and if I behaved like that my staff would take a grievance against me!
See below for outline of the four main areas of DDA

The Act is designed to prevent four main types of discrimination:

* Direct discrimination (discrimination against someone because they have diabetes);
* Disability-related discrimination (discrimination against someone for a reason related to their diabetes – for example, because they spend too much time away from their desk testing blood glucose);
* Failure to make reasonable adjustments (all employers must consider making reasonable adjustments for their disabled employees); and
* Victimisation (taking action against someone because they have complained of being discriminated against or because they have complained about a failure to make reasonable adjustments)
 
I really do appreciate all of your help. I am heading back to work now following my lunch but I will start making enquiries tomorrow as I have a day off. I can't thank you all enough for your help and advice. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day. Adrian
 
Cynical/sarcastic answer: sue the clueless ******** within an inch of their lives. But start looking for a new job first. They really don't sound like people worth working for and in the long term their attitudes might just bring the company down (seen that happen all too many times to firms I left before it happened)
 
Occupational Health and the CAB would be helpful. Do you belong to a union or professional association, because this is also a case they could take up.
 
Back
Top