hostile work enviorment
My girlfriend has been battling cancer for over two years. She also is prone to seizures due to her condition. She works at an adult day care center. The first year she worked there the management was fairly accomadating. But recently they've been creating a more and more hostile work enviorment. They adjust scheduling and assign her workloads that set her up for failure. The management people have been making unprofessional and hurtful comments. They are requesting that she go to a company doctor to have it determined if she is fit to perform her duties but when asked what duties she has failed to perform they have no specifics. They know she has a suppressed immune system and recently brought in a bird and a hamster and forced her to work in the room that they are kept. It's only an $8.00 an hour job but she needs the insurance and it appears that they are going to keep pushing and pushing till they get her to quit. What action can she or should she take.
1 answer | asked Feb 11, 2004 07:49 AM [EST] | applies to Ohio
Answers (1)
Your girlfriend should contact the Ohio Civil Rights Commission or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and perhaps her local legal Aid Society for assistance. In particular, she should ask the agency about whether to proceed with the medical examination. In the meantime, she should inquire with her employer about the medical exam, when, where, etc., and could even go ahead to schedule an appointment (maybe the appointment will be weeks or months into the future, for example) so that she is not subject to being fired for failure to cooperate or being insubordinate.
Depending on the size of the employer, it sounds as if she may have some legal protections under the federal Family & Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the state of Ohio counterpart to the ADA. These laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of taking medical leave and on the basis of disability inteferering with a major life activity or perceived [by the employer] as doing so.
You are very thoughtful to inquire on her behalf and hope that this is helpful.
Ann Lugbill
posted by Ann Lugbill | Feb 11, 2004 10:08 AM [EST]
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