I'm on FMLA for new dx of AD/HD. My job exacerbates ADD, can I quit and get unemployment?
Even to the mentally healthy person my job is "crazy". Loud, no walls or doors to your office space. Three phone lines ringing, five people carrying on conversations, loudly, fax machine on my desk space going all day with someone constantly faxing something. Customers walking in the door, only ten feet away from my desk, so as they are waiting for my coworker to help them, they want to chit chat with me. I have four million reports to work on and I am interrupted every two to three minutes. My boss interrupts me every ten min, plus I'm trying to answer the phone, then the girl that sits in front of me asks me a question every five min. OH MY GOD!!!!! How am I supposed to handle that? Before my request for leave, I was in full rage mode every day, chest pain, headaches. Angry all day, moods up and down within seconds. I don't want disability I want to quit, but be able to get unemployment while I try to find a more structured job so that I don't lose my mind. Anybody know the law on this one? Do I have any rights with ADD? Oh and to add to my story, I have requested from my boss to please move me across the huge open office, to the corner with a cubicle wall so that I could have some privacy and not be right in the middle of the storm. He told me, maybe. This was a year and a half ago. I have been with company for three years.
1. Check out the Americans With Disabilities Act(ADA). It tells you what rights you have regarding workplace alterations to assist you so that you can do your job.
2. My experience with the Bureau of Employment Services leads me to believe that if you quit your job because you are unable to perform your job, you will be denied unemployment benefits. You will probably need to request a meeting with your human resources representative and explain your circumstances. Explain that all you need is somewhere to do your job where there are not so many interruptions because of your ADHD. Make sure you keep a record of all meetings, appointments, telephone calls, correspondence and be sure to keep a copy of anything that you sent to anyone. Make sure that everything has a date on it. If your employer refuses to assist you with reasonable requests because of your diagnosis you may have a case that the ADA would be willing to take and help you. Just don't do anything that would give your employer a way out. I had to submit to a random drug screen. The drug screen was positive for a drug my doctor had prescribed two years prior that I still had at the house for the exact reason I used the medication (migraine headache). I lost my case with my employer on the grounds that the prescription was out dated and they said I should have made an appointment with my doctor to have my headache assessed to see if the doctor still wanted me to take the drug. BE CAREFUL! The Americans With Disabilities Act was written to protect disabled americans in the work place, housing, etc. The unfortunate truth at the time my case was heard was that only a handful of cases had actually gone forward and everyone involved was experiencing what was taking place for the first time and the ground rules were being established at the same time cases were actually be heard. Even though I had received legal authorization to bring my employer to court it was all done for nothing because of my employers lawyers bring forth the technicality I was unaware of. It made no difference that my doctor still prescribed the medication when I went to him. Corporate lawyers get paid to defend their employers and they certainly earn their pay! GOOD LUCK!
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