Working with ME

Please ask our experts your adult medical questions about ME/CFS here.

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Lisesuffolk
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Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:40 pm

by Lisesuffolk on Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:49 am

Working with ME

I currently work part time as I can'tt cope with full -time working and use part time days, weekends and annual leave to 'recover' from work.
I can swap shifts and take leave at quite short notice if I am unable to work rather than take sickness absence, which is a concern.
I am quite stressed about work currently as we are now being scored as a team in a league table format, rather than as an individual for reporting purposes, I am very concerned that my performance which has always been satisfactory, is now rated the lowest on the team and I am uncertain what this will mean for the future but I am very concerned about it which isn't helping with my ME at all. I am not sure where to go from here.
I feel that I will now have to perform not only as well as my colleagues but better to work my way up the pecking order, whilst trying to manage daily challenges with the cognitive challenges, aching joints etc. Any advice would be gratefully received

I will order the Employment information sheet as perviously mentioned but was interested to know if the above concern would/could require a reasonable adjustment?

Lisesuffolk

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Joined: Fri Aug 16, 2013 12:40 pm

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Dr Charles Shepherd
Posts: 215
Joined: Wed Aug 07, 2013 11:30 am

by Dr Charles Shepherd on Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:24 pm

Re: Working with ME

Here is some general MEA information on Employment and ME/CFS:

1 We have an MEA information leaflet that covers all aspects of employment, including adjustments at work and strategies for return to work. This leaflet also covers how the 2010 Equality Act and the (previous) Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) applies to employers and employees when it comes to making suitable adjustments (= changes to hours, duties etc) to accommodate employees with ME/CFS.

2 We have two leaflets that cover issues relating to obtaining an ill health retirement pension and how prognosis and permanency should be viewed in relation to applications for retirement on the grounds of permanent ill health in ME/CFS. We also have a leaflet that covers problems relating to permanent health insurance (aka income protection) policies.

3 The DDA and Equality Act may also be relevant to a situation regarding possible dismissal if you are no longer able to cope with the workload. The chapter on Employment in 'Living with ME' (Vermilion paperback available free from any public library) has details of cases where the DDA has been used by people with ME/CFS in employment law disputes. The MEA website news archives has details of more recent employment tribunal cases - if you need to follow this up in due course. Details of an important precedent DDA and ME/CFS case (O'Neill vs Symm and Company) can be found in the DDA section of the MEA booklet below and in the Vermilion paperback.

4 We work with a firm of London solicitors who deal in employment law - but any consultation here would be on a fee paying basis. More information on their services can be found in the current issue of ME Essential magazine.

5 We also have an employment law solicitor who is willing to provide some preliminary free information to MEA members.

6 The MEA purple booklet has a section on employment issues that can be shown to your occupational health department/physician.

7 Information about what to say to an employer about your state of health is covered in an item in the Spring 2011 issue (page 11) of ME Essential magazine.

8 Re DDA and 2010 Equality Act:
I established that ME/CFS comes under the DDA when I appeared as an expert medical witness in the O'Neill vs Symm case. ME/CFS is listed as a condition that comes under the remit of the 2010 Equality Act.

9 If you are continuing to work with ill health or disability you should check whether your employer has a policy of Disability Leave. I have written about Disability Leave in more detail in the current (August) issue of ME Essential magazine.

From what you say it sounds as though you ought to be discussing 'reasonable adjustments' to hours, duties etc with your employer.

If you belong to a union or professional body you should be able to get some legal assistance

MEA website and pdf literature form: http://www.meassociation.org.uk
Dr Charles Shepherd
MB BS, Honorary Medical Adviser, ME Association

suedodkin
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by suedodkin on Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:31 pm

Re: Working with ME

Hi
I am responding here with my own experience because I do not believe many employers take ME/CFS seriously. I am a nurse who lectured in Nursing at a University so one would hope that I had managers with a good understanding of my condition and its affect on my capability to work effectively. How wrong I was. I have spent many years not knowing why I was so ill and was eventually diagnosed earlier this year. After an occupational health nurse assessment after I had been signed off work for 4 weeks, measures were put in place to remove me from my job. My union fought back with the disability card, to no avail, and after 2 months of fighting I was just getting worse. The fight was making me so ill that on the advice of my CFS centre specialist I quit my job. I feel so frustrated that even in these 'enlightened times' sufferers are forced into seclusion instead of being helped to get better and resume work, even if its only a tiny iota of what they were doing before.
I am so much happier to be rid of the stress that work placed on me, but a bit lost as I have never not worked, and have always been a 'doer' so to speak. But then I'm told that is the typical profile of a Me/CFS sufferer.......

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Action for M.E.
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Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:49 pm

by Action for M.E. on Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:48 am

Re: Working with ME

Hello

We have lots of useful information about your employment rights and reasonably adjustments, plus experiences of other people with M.E. that you may find helpful, in the Employment section of our Online M.E. Centre.

You can take a look at http://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-informed/employment

Best wishes

Action for M.E.

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