I was never asked back there....I now do supply teaching which has been seriously affected by education cuts. Recently I was sent to a school & informed, only when I arrived there, that I would have to do lunch duty as well. Lunch was 30 minutes & I was expected to be in the dining room at the correct time (no time for loo to do test & jab & had to go through dining room to get to it so would probably have been stopped by another member of staff). I rushed to the staff room, reached into a locker for my handbag & had a jab then & there. No one said anything & I got into the dining room only a couple of minutes late--they did provide me with a lunch which was cold by the time I waited for porcine insulin to work.....happy days......!!!
No longer any regulation.......Under this government, modern slavery is rife... workers no longer have rights, written into the law or not- there is no one to implement and enforce it. The companies are too powerful and the workers are too scared to take action to be left out of a job and end up on welfare which doesn't meet your needs along with the stigma attached to it! Seems like we are back in the Dickensian era! Sad!
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I worked in the civil service and my employer was very good, it was the lower level managers who were the problem, trying to assert their little bit of power !
Employees with a long term health problem now have the legal right to ask for 'reasonable adjustments' to allow then to manage their ilness. Having medication with you is not an unreasonable request to make, nor is it unreasonable to expect them to agree to.
But as I said, ask for an independent health assessment and the assessor will inform the employer of their responsibilities. Again, if you have no luck, speak to citizens advice; they have vast experience of these sort of events and can you advise on how to proceed in your local area.
My company needed extra cash for a new building and decided to make redundancies in order to save money--I was one of those made redundant. Fellow teachers told me I should visit the doctor in order to be signed off with stress for the rest of the academic year. I didn't but later understood their advice as my life became very, very difficult. However I am resilient and was determined to get my students through their qualifications (they all got distinctions) and so end my time at this college well (for me & students). They did attempt the diabetes card--without success--with the help of the NUT I would have taken them to court (this had already happened to my manager after having given a kidney to his sister--he won his case). After I left the college they failed OFSTED so had less money from the local authority for student funding. RESULT--a brand new building which was virtually empty because there were hardly any students (unfortunately most of my colleagues were made redundant the following year because the college could no longer afford to pay them). Apart from redundancies the result c/b summed up in 1 word: KARMA..... This happened in 2011 & I have taught ever since however education is in such a mess, because of all the cuts, so I am thinking about going for early retirement (s/b March 2018 but have had enough....frankly....). Sorry not really about my diabetes but really to illustrate that with lack of money and cuts employers go to unbelievable lengths to get rid of staff & if you are vulnerable, in any way at all (eg diabetes) you are usually 1st in the firing line. So sad & awful!! I have had type 1 since I was 8 yrs (56 years going on 57) & it has never affected my ability to do a job well!!!!!!!!!!!!!In a similar vein, I can go one step further with reference of an Employer's ignorance of illness. Last year, after an Internal transfer from one division to another, involving moving a total of 500 miles, I discovered a Management Bullying & Intimidation culture at my new place of work. The previous 3.5 years counted for nothing and despite my best efforts to beat their "systematic bullying and humiliation" processes, within 4 months I was diagnosed by my GP with Severe Stress and Depression, and placed on medications to combat it.
However, my Medications regime effectively went out of the window as I battled to combat not only the stress but a totally disrupted Sleep pattern, when sometimes I'd go without sleep for up to 48 hours at a time! Luckily, I had Union representation; I say luckily, as my Employers worked on the format that not only did they not recognise Stress and Depression as illnesses, but also didn't allow for Diabetes - to them, these 3 illnesses (amongst others) were "all in the mind!".
Part of their bullying was to disallow me to have my Blood Testing Meter, strips etc., plus snacks which I had discreetly hidden away in a purpose made pouch in a coat pocket; meal times were disrupted oe even taken away by an utterly crazy shift pattern which was designed to seriously impact with me medically.
I was stuck deep in the Highlands of Scotland, couldn't afford to get away for job searching but equally couldn't afford to be out of work and it was a vicious circle. Ultimately, I walked out after the company tried to ban my Union Rep and legal team from representing me at hearings brought into the equation when illness, including Diabetic episodes, caused me to miss work.
My next move to an altogether utterly different employer demonstrated how the whole scenario could be and was handled. I am only sorry, in hindsight, that I didn't get out sooner than I did; equally, a great number of those colleagues I left behind have suffered in a similar way, such that some left under medical duress but some are still there to this day. Others in the same company at other sites are bullied to be back at work or face dismissal, literally days after having major medical surgery. Regrettably, some companies still exist in this day and age..... and seem to get away with it!
One manager I had reported me because she saw me using my BM meter in the staff room. Reason she reported me: she thought it was my phone.............In a similar vein, I can go one step further with reference of an Employer's ignorance of illness. Last year, after an Internal transfer from one division to another, involving moving a total of 500 miles, I discovered a Management Bullying & Intimidation culture at my new place of work. The previous 3.5 years counted for nothing and despite my best efforts to beat their "systematic bullying and humiliation" processes, within 4 months I was diagnosed by my GP with Severe Stress and Depression, and placed on medications to combat it.
However, my Medications regime effectively went out of the window as I battled to combat not only the stress but a totally disrupted Sleep pattern, when sometimes I'd go without sleep for up to 48 hours at a time! Luckily, I had Union representation; I say luckily, as my Employers worked on the format that not only did they not recognise Stress and Depression as illnesses, but also didn't allow for Diabetes - to them, these 3 illnesses (amongst others) were "all in the mind!".
Part of their bullying was to disallow me to have my Blood Testing Meter, strips etc., plus snacks which I had discreetly hidden away in a purpose made pouch in a coat pocket; meal times were disrupted oe even taken away by an utterly crazy shift pattern which was designed to seriously impact with me medically.
I was stuck deep in the Highlands of Scotland, couldn't afford to get away for job searching but equally couldn't afford to be out of work and it was a vicious circle. Ultimately, I walked out after the company tried to ban my Union Rep and legal team from representing me at hearings brought into the equation when illness, including Diabetic episodes, caused me to miss work.
My next move to an altogether utterly different employer demonstrated how the whole scenario could be and was handled. I am only sorry, in hindsight, that I didn't get out sooner than I did; equally, a great number of those colleagues I left behind have suffered in a similar way, such that some left under medical duress but some are still there to this day. Others in the same company at other sites are bullied to be back at work or face dismissal, literally days after having major medical surgery. Regrettably, some companies still exist in this day and age..... and seem to get away with it!
oh & manager in question asked me why I didn't tell her I was diabetic. My response was why didn't she ask me any questions about my health (normally I answer that I am diabetic but that it in no way impinges on my ability to teach & carry out my duties).Last year I had an interview, for a long term teaching supply job, during which not 1 health question was asked. Weeks into the job the manager told me that someone had told her I was diabetic (don't know how--hadn't mentioned it to anyone--was teaching in an NHS setting though) so she thought I wouldn't be suitable to do my job. I persuaded her otherwise but left after my "honourary" tenure expired. Since then she has attempted to get rid of another teacher-- with MS--again unsuccessfully--but this lady (who was a psychiatrist before going into teaching) has been successful in an interview for another job in her former field. Employment is going back to Victorian ways of employing people in this, our gig, economy. (From a prospective match girl phossy jaw occurs later.. LOL....!!! (although it isn't at all funny but have no wish to go political ......)
Re type 1 being a disability: as I understand it it is whether I consider my condition t/b a disability---which I do not....@south869 what medication are you on for your diabetes? This goes into whether your type 2 diabetes is considered a disability under the equality act. The test for whether something is a disability for the purpose of the equality act is whether there is a long term condition that would have a significant adverse impact on your ability to conduct day to day activities without treatment. Now, under this test type 1 is definitely a disability as without treatment a type 1 would be dead. Whether your type 2 is a disability under this test depends upon how it is treated. An employment tribunal judge in one case said his type 2 diabetes was treated with diet alone and therefore wasn't a disability.
So diet treated type 2, not a disabiliy. Insulin treated type 2 is a disability. Then all the other medications will sit in the grey area in between from metformin (probably not a disability) to Gliclazide (probably is a disability).
If your type 2 is a disability then you get the benefits of the equality act protections against discrimination. Your employer has a duty to accommodate your disability by making reasonable adjustments. So for someone working in retail where there is a rule you can't have anything in your pocket on the shop floor it would be a reasonable adjustment to bend that rule to allow them to have test kit and hypo treatment. Whether this applies in your case in a factory depends on the reasons for the rule for no items in your work station: if there are safety or regulatory reasons that prohibit them, it might not be reasonable to bend the rule. But you might find that the body conducting the inspections are probably well aware of the diversity need to accommodate disability so may have made their own accommodation to the rules for the inspection, and actually your employer showing they have given you reasonable adjustments to keep you safe with access to test kit might give them brownie points in the inspection.
Equally, if you have difficulty with rules about time off due to a disability these rules can be adjusted so days off caused by your disability don't count against you.
When I wasn't allowed to eat at work I used to go to the loo to eat......bit disgusting but it kept diabetes stable. I have since used cupboards in which to eat.......if anyone came in I would just make a joke. Probably got put off as an 8 year old (& upwards) when I used to have to eat every 2 hours (on 1 jab og mixed PZI & soluble daily) so school allowed me an extra bottle of milk (yes, that long ago in free school milk days...) in the afternoon as well as the morning. However to get the milk I had to walk right round the classroom, all the way back & then get a noisy paper bag out with 2 rich tea to have with it = 20g cho......didn't enjoy that but the school were brilliant & all without any legislation to dictate what they should/ shouldn't do.....Just to add some further information, I work in a factory on the shop floor and have a workstation (assembly ) with lin bins on racking, I normaly pop a snack bar and my meds (tablets + Accu-chek) in a spare bin to hide it away, we get 5s inspections and get rated, but the main issue is you dont eat or have unnecessary items at work, as a result of diabetes I now have lipodermatosclerosis and have been off work for some long periods, resulting in poor marks when the pay reviews come round.
I was ok to allow medical checks on my "current" illness however the new manager has taken an issue and demanded "I prove my diabetes"
Because of the breaks from work and what other see as being workshy, my old manager told me the team were wary of me as I didn't join in, "I should join in when the end of the week comes" as they let off steam on Fridays and mess about, getting the local sandwich shop to delivery rolls, ordering pizza for lunch, long story short, I joined in and then faced a disciplinary for "gross industrial missconduct" which was short for "we dont want you here with a gimpy leg and being of sick"
I have a waist belt with a purse which I wear at work in which I keep sweets/ glucose. Can wear it under clothes so is unobtrusiveI haven't personally had any issues such as you describe, but from time to time we have members reporting they have issues carrying kit or any form of food with them. Often that's relating to either employer's policy - often in secure areas, food or retail environments.
What you said.... it really touches me.... this is exactly what I used to think when I suffered with depression! Easier isn't better!Just popped back to check and thanks for the replies, some good advice, some of it already taken, yes I am a union member and they are next to useless, union rep turned up for a meeting without knowing what it was about no notes no info and no help.
His presence made it worse, I have use the relevant legislation, but I know I will get "We looked into this and found nothing"
They are now claiming is was not said, I miss understood the supervisor, he never said I could not have anything there, I did use the fridge in the canteen before until someone took my food, for most its no problem but as I follow a low carbs, low salt, low sugar diet its not easy to just get another snack, I am being sent to Hull at the moment, it's like Coventry but smells worse, no one will come near me as despsite it spos to be "confidential" everyone knows, no one wants to be too close as the smelly stuff flies around, there looking into my mental state as it must be the only thing left to cause this, my supervisor denies any wrong doing and the manager keeps telling I am imagining it and miss heard.
I am using the Equalities Act 2010 as there are other factors which have being brewing, as far as it goes the job it's gone this is the last option and I will continue to follow through until a tribunal, for those who have replied I thank you and feel your pain, I have laid in bed in a cold sweat having flash backs of the days events (everyday something is wrong, but their not picking on me honest guv) I sit in the car lunchtimes as I cant stand being in the factory wondering who or whats happening next, it's getting to the point..... well I dont want to think about it but it's always lurking I wonder why the hell do I bother there are quick ways to end this.
Do you have anyone else who can come and be with you?I do suffer sometimes and at the end of the day I can be at my lowest, I admit it can be very dark some days, I am in constant pain and feel so low because at my age I shouldn't be like this. Some days it's all I can do to get from the door to the car, I have some new antibiotics which seem to be helping my leg so I am hoping the pain will be soon less of a problem.
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