Have any women had to have their employer accommodate to their illness?
I returned to work a couple of weeks ago and just last week was pulled to the side by a team leader called Chris.
At first I thought oh shit I'm in trouble, but he started with "Have the agency treated you right whilst you've been going through this?" I was shocked that he seemed to care and could feel my eyes welling up at the thought of someone actually taking interest and trying to help. I explained that no, even though I had a doctors note mentioning my illness and how I have to sit to work now, they were awful and simply wrote on my return to work form that I just had stomach pain.
The team leader apparently has a friend that suffers badly with Endometriosis, and he was completely sympathetic! He said they'd accommodate when they could, sitting down is no problem, over riding the rota when a day is fully booked with holidays, switching my days off around to help. He even went to my agency and explained they had no right to serve me a written warning about absences'.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the agency boss to explain the illness fully, and believe me it will be in graphic terms, and I will be armed with information sheets and photos for them to keep on file. I will also be speaking about reducing my hours to part time (3 days a week instead of 5.) My team leader is fine with me being part time he said, as long as I can manage financially, which I will be able to.
Its nice to find someone who sort of understands the impact this awful thing has on your physical and mental state.
Wish me luck tomorrow xxx
Has anyone else ran into trouble at work because of Endo???