3 months ago I had the front part of my tongue removed and then a flap put in. This my 3rd round with oral cancer. With my job I work on the phones and non phone work. My doctor has put in his orders no phone work for now. I can talk but my speech is very poor. He said my speech might be back to normal, but he is not sure.

With the doctor note is causing grief at work. Since I cannot talk on the phones they cut my hours to 30 a week and 10 hours of short term. I was told by HR that if I am not clear to work on the phones by 1st of the year. They will have let me go, not will trying to grind me a different job. This is a major company I work for.

I do not know what my right are under ADA, can anyone give me some in light on the law.

thank you,

Barry

Its a very fine line if you are unable to do your full job as to if your company has the right to let you go without attempting to make "reasonable" accommodations for you. That term "reasonable" is kinda blurry.

I suggest you consult an attorney in your area. Someone who works in employee rights.

Barry, I found this link if you want to check it out--

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html

To summarize it though, Christine is right on. I see people let go every so often when they are sick (with cancer, MS, even chronic laryngitis.) I work in a call center so speech issues will come up every so often.

Not sure if state law will cover you, so an attorney may be helpful.

What a big hassle it is when you've got cancer to deal with! Will your employer possibly grant you a temporary leave of absence to heal and improve your speech? My HR department will grant these and automatically submit information up for ss disability. It sounds like your employer is trying to work with you by giving you until January and allowing you to work in the meantime.

I sure hope you can find a easier resolution without having to spend the money and energy on an attorney. I really wish you the best of luck.

Hi Barry, I agree with Auditie that it sounds as though your employer really values you and is willing to wait for you until January 1, and that's really good.

Here's a JAN website about requesting and negotiating disability accommodation: http://askjan.org/Eeguide/index.htm

JAN, the Job Accommodation Network, is a service of the U.S. Labor Department and will consult with you personally at no cost to brainstorm accommodations that might keep you in your job. Check out JAN's long list of accommodations to see if there are options other than eliminating phonework from your job (text-to-voice equipment?).

Hope this helps!

p.s. Not to be anticipate trouble, but just to be smart, please document all of the conversations you have about this with any company representatives (dates, time, who was there, what was said). Don't be obvious about it, and keep your notes at home.

If things escalate, your attorney will be thrilled to have your detailed notes.

The ADA covers qualified workers with a major physical or mental impairment function that is long term, not short term. Christine is right about "reasonable accommodations," as long as it does not cause undue hardship to the employer, other employee's, finances, business continuity, etc. There are other factors involved, like the policy of your employer, past practice, and treatment of other employee's in similar situations. Some have no back to work programs, some do, and if you can't perform the essential job duties you cant work, being doing so would cause undue hardship. Even if re-assignment is in practice, you need to be qualified for that job.

I wonder how long your employer has accepted your disability, let you work, and accommodated you, and what hardship do they say now is the reason for discontinuance? I guess the doctors note put your employer "on notice" so they are doing the same with their intentions.

Everyone made good suggestions to follow-up. Another are disability advocacy groups that offers free help in your area, even lawyers. Good luck.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Im going back to my union rep days.... your employer does not need to know anything about your medical condition. Keep as much info private as you can. When calling out sick decline to give specifics! Just tell them "I wont be in Im not feeling well" On return to work notes, it does not need to list ailments only that you have been under a doctors care and are now able to return to your full job (or partial job with x,y,z limitations expected to be fore say 2 weeks).

Many companies will use a employees health against them in the future when people tell their company too much info. Less is always more!

Barry,

As a large company it sounds like the legal department was proving their worth and you just received a letter that usually triggers some type of action in the future. Maybe that's the time frame when you have to change your status from short term to long term. We did this at several companies I worked for.

I have been looking at "assistive devices" and "reasonable accommodation" for a while. First, your speech will progress and just a date out there isn't intended to intimidate just inform you, in my opinion. There are several personal amplification systems with a price range of approx $120-$500. They are considered "reasonable accommodation" as well. Some have more sophisticated microphones you attach to your throat even. The higher the cost, the better the sound quality. By staying in front of the questions you might have less stress about it.

Of course, they are getting some legal holes closed since they are giving a definite time. They have already established you can only perform 75% (30/40 hrs). Maybe start looking at possible transfers within the company. Your internal knowledge of how the company operates has significant value. Maybe not being able to do the same job can be a good thing longer term.

Best wishes for fast healing.

Ed

I had another idea that might help you with your employer. How about finding a speech pathologist? They can do wonders with helping to rehabilitate your speech. Im sure they will also have some tips to make your voice better understood over the telephone. Your deadline is plenty of time to start improving the clarity of your voice.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I do have a few back up things to try if HR give me more problems. The president of the company has always told me if I need help with anything just let him know. Plus I am friends with his admin, she checks in with me every week. Since I work at home I do not see anyone in the office.

Christine, I am seeing a speech pathologist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She referred me to one that was close to my home. But after two month and really getting no were with him I called Cindy up and she told me to come back to her. In two visits she has helped me out a lot. She did more in two visits then 2 months with the old one. The reason she referred me to this one was he was only 8 miles away, were she is a 70 miles away. I should have bite the bullet and drove to salt lake.