crohn's and your job

How many of you told your employer and co-workers you are dealing with crohn's? Or do you keep it a secret? Reasoning behind the decision? I have never told an employer but think my hand is being forced Bc my manager thinks I'm away from my desk too much. I'm not of course. The only time I leave my desk is to use the bathroom. I also had s bunch of doc appts last month so she was pissed about that. I think I need to lay it on the table and say here's the deal...thoughts?

I work I the public service, so it's kind of more stable and secure. I also perform a managing position, with a team of eight good fellows.
What do I do? I just tell everybody. My boss and coworkers alike. When I had my surgery, I send an email explaining, with some links to further research to the more interested or concerned. That message reached more than 30 ppl. After that I sent another email telling my surgeries adventures. Very graphic indeed.
Right now, I'm on time of work leave (yeah... Crohn's motivated), and all of them know about it.

People react differently. Some think I'm a freaking hero. Others don't know what to say. In general, they are very supportive, and I'm grateful. I feel respected and even cared.

But it depends on your work environment. More competition tends to less compassion... But I'm all for transparency. If there is no support, time to think about a change.

Good luck.

Telling your employer is a tough decision.  Do you have the option of just telling the HR team?  They can be an intermediary on your behalf without giving all of your details to your boss if you do not wish to.

I do not tell co-workers about my issues unless I have a non-working relationship with them also.  I just think they do not need to know (especially since I am in a position above many of them and I do not trust all of my job level equals).  My boss knows, but only because he was a boss/co-worker at a previous job and we were a small family like group.  I also work in health insurance so most folks here either know what CD is or can easily find out.  If he were my new boss, I would not have told him...but I would go through HR.

I have been fortunate in my past jobs where it did not matter how much time or when I put in my time, as long as the job was getting done.  I don't feel quite that way in my current job.....but I still reassure myself that I am getting the requirements completed as needed so I should feel confident.

Hope that helps!

I had to tell my employer after about a month or two because I started to relapse again. I haven't been able to go back to work since, but he was nice enough to allow me a spot back when I feel well enough. Whenever that is. -.-

mtgman said...
How many of you told your employer and co-workers you are dealing with crohn's? Or do you keep it a secret? Reasoning behind the decision? I have never told an employer but think my hand is being forced Bc my manager thinks I'm away from my desk too much. I'm not of course. The only time I leave my desk is to use the bathroom. I also had s bunch of doc appts last month so she was pissed about that. I think I need to lay it on the table and say here's the deal...thoughts?

One thing I have always done on a job application is put down that I have Crohn's and never have been questioned when doing so. Then again, I had nearly 15 years of no issues after a lower bowel resection. As far as telling colleagues, no, never would tell anyone. To me it was a need to know and they didn't need to know.

The ADA provides that an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation when a qualifying employee requests one, that accommodation would allow the employee to perform the essential functions of your position. An employer isn't required to eliminate any of the essential functions from your job description, however, eliminated non essential functions can be considered a reasonable accommodation. Your employer is also entitled to hold your quality of work to the same standard as any other employee, a non disabled employee.

While an employee cannot be terminated due to being disabled, an employee who is unable to return to work after the maximum amount of time mandated by State or Federal law or is unable to perform the essential functions of the position can be legally terminated. Whether they are still on disability leave or not.

An employer can terminate you while you are on long term or short term disability. Federal law allows a total of 12 weeks protected medical leave under the FMLA. Once 12 weeks of medical leave has been used at one time or intermittently, an employer has no legal obligation to retain your position.

I wound up telling my boss this past fall after a short stay in the hospital. I also told some of my coworkers. I'm a very private person, but it's helped being able to tell people that I'm not feeling well and have them understand why, more so than if they didn't know. My boss has also been very accommodating, and has helped work with me to lighten my load a bit, and seems very conscious of stress.

The other thing that I did this fall is apply for FMLA. If you are in the US, I recommend it. This will offer some protection. You can be out of work for up to 12 weeks every year, and at my work makes it a little easier to be out for drs appts or even just sick days. It is possible to apply for this through HR, and they will be the only ones to know about your CD. Your boss will know you were approved for FMLA, but not the details. Or at  least that's my rudimentary understanding.

Somedude said...
LOL 12 weeks....

I work for the federal Gov in Canada. If I feel like sitting home for the next 3 years I can and then I can come back to my position. Granted it's going to be unpaid leave. But whatever.

Stupid laws in U.S Geez, w.t.f. who wants to catch a chronic disease. 12 weeks....yeah ...U.C. and Crohn is going to cooperate after 3 months...

It's not the worst law when it comes to being ill, disabled and out of work. A person, including myself thought I had some protection, something to fall back on with Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability. We have this thing called, insurance or so we think. I received 60% of my pay while out of work on STD, then extended to LTD from the insurance carrier. When a person gets their insurance through their employer, then become disabled, all this falls under a law called ERISA. A law first meant to protect employees that has back fired and works against employees and benefits the insurance companies.
Take a read here- www.erisa-claims.com/blog/erisa-encourages-bad-insurer-behavior.cfm

The insurance company I dealt with terminated me because I can lift 20 pounds, which means I can do sedentary work. Now one needs to ask themselves, what does that have to do with Crohn's and everything that comes with having Crohn's? The conclusion I come to is, nothing. It doesn't matter in the end, the only thing that matters when it comes to the insurance company is profit. The insurance company I had been dealing with made a profit of 3 billion dollars last year. Operates on the markets at 26 billion dollars and is asking for over $200 million in tax credits for a new building. All insurance companies operate this way, accept premiums, deny claims.

Under ERISA, I can only sue for what they were going to pay me. Meaning, no punitive damages, nothing beyond what they were initially going to pay me while being disabled.
I have to get an attorney well versed in the disability laws, pay them a fee as well only to recover what the insurance company was going to pay me. I cannot receive help from the state I live in as ERISA makes the whole matter a Federal issue. The appeal time is 180 days, that is 180 days with no income.
Also during the time of being disabled, applying for SSDI & SSI, the insurance company will take part of my SSDI payment from when I first applied for it. That is paying back what is considered a loan to me. Being disabled, my situation for example, I am owed 60% of my base pay. Let's say I receive SSDI for a certain amount per month, the insurance company must pay the rest to equal the amount of the 60% of my pay. Which is supposed to occur for as long as I'm disabled or until the age of 65.
The insurance companies intentionally terminate claims to save money. People are ill, disabled, already lacking funds and 9 out of 10 people do not appeal their denial of benefits.
The insurance company had a representative call me often for "retraining" and to call my employer to see if I have a job to return to. I denied both requests, didn't stop the representative from calling my manager. I'm sure it came across as badgering and he told them no, I do not have a position to return to.
Soon after my claim was terminated, the very next month. Talk about being infuriated, stymied and at a complete loss, that is an understatement. You are left high and dry with zero, yes zero income and no aid.

This has been happening to people for years and years, it is an ugly practice that leaves people who are ill, disabled in a very bad place. Unable to pay any of their bills.
Read this article to see how blatant the practice is- www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-01/accidental-death-becomes-suicide-when-insurers-dodge-paying-life-benefits.html

It does not matter that I have previously worked 30 years, been productive while having Crohn's for 39 years, the bottom line is what is always is, money.

Edit: I should add, I never met with a physician of and or by the insurance company. The person who decided I could do sedentary work had been a nurse. A nurse deemed that I could lift 20 pounds, can do sedentary work and that has a lot to do with Crohn's, right? Previously I received my benefits with some issues, the insurance company saying they didn't receive faxes, little things like that, so there were issues. Ultimately, the biggest issue came when I had no longer been employed, that led to an immediate termination of my claim.

Post Edited (Datawraith) : 8/21/2012 12:57:57 PM (GMT-6)

data: i agree with you. told my last employer( I have MS and CD) tried to go back on ssd but my hubby is also disabled (DDD and bipolar). We can't get medical b/c we make too much on SSD(medicare yes, but it doesn't pay for everything and can't get medicaid) Tried to get my job back and they said "no you need to heal and get better" what they meant was we don't want to deal with you(was hospitalized for MS and out sick for week with CD).
New job is A LOT more stress... pain is incredable....I take 6-8 immodium a day so I don't poop my pants( I am a nurse in a very busy clinic) 5 days a week asked to come in in my days off, 8, 9 hours a day. I told one of my co workers b/c she kept making remarks on how I don't eat lunch. If I don't eat, I don't poop, plus many days I am sick to my stomach. The new job wants me to have a physical so I think my goose is cooked anyway(who wants a nurse with CD,probably with a bowel obstruction, MS with what I call brain farts and possibly my thyroid ca is back problems swollowing

Singingsupernurse said...
data: i agree with you. told my last employer( I have MS and CD) tried to go back on ssd but my hubby is also disabled (DDD and bipolar). We can't get medical b/c we make too much on SSD(medicare yes, but it doesn't pay for everything and can't get medicaid) Tried to get my job back and they said "no you need to heal and get better" what they meant was we don't want to deal with you(was hospitalized for MS and out sick for week with CD).
New job is A LOT more stress... pain is incredable....I take 6-8 immodium a day so I don't poop my pants( I am a nurse in a very busy clinic) 5 days a week asked to come in in my days off, 8, 9 hours a day. I told one of my co workers b/c she kept making remarks on how I don't eat lunch. If I don't eat, I don't poop, plus many days I am sick to my stomach. The new job wants me to have a physical so I think my goose is cooked anyway(who wants a nurse with CD,probably with a bowel obstruction, MS with what I call brain farts and possibly my thyroid ca is back problems swollowing

I am so sorry to hear that Singingsupernurse. It really can be a no win situation, work sick and your job performance can suffer. You go out on disability and you get raked over. I have now unfortunately seen both sides of this and it's infuriating. Are you taking any other maintenance medications for the Crohn's? Unfortunately Imodium never helped me out, always suffered from constant diarrhea.
Where you're at right now with the pain, the diarrhea, all of it, I had been in that state for 22 years. The best thing I had done, it also needed to be done as in had no choice (complete blockage), had been a lower bowel resection. They removed 17 inches of my small intestine, I had to take Questran for roughly a year to aid in bile absorption. I have said numerous times in my posts here that I was great after that surgery and I was but the only thing I still suffered from was still some urgency issues. That darn agonizing pain was gone though for many years, nearly 15.

Have you read about the American Disabilities Act? - www.ada.gov/
Have you also applied for FMLA? www.dol.gov/whd/fmla

I'm attempting to make a big stink of what happened to me. Not only just because it's me, but because what happens to people who are legitimately ill, disabled is absolutely disgusting. All for greed. Also because I received 3 termination letters from the insurance company, one termination letter from someone I never spoke with. I'm sure they're vying for a monthly win in most denials and terminations. I'm not making that up, it's a known practice by insurance companies.
Though my situation falls under ERISA and is a Federal matter, I contacted the Governor's office of Chris Christie. I sent in a letter via a form on the Governor's website and I kid you not, I received a call back in 15 minutes! The insurance company is now being investigated by the Department of Banking and Insurance of NJ.
I am also revealing everything that has happened to me to my employer as well. They are an international company that consists of 145,000 employees, that's a lot of premiums to the insurance company.

Post Edited (Datawraith) : 8/22/2012 11:04:56 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Bruinsfan, I'm very sorry to hear that you were let go and another case that pisses me off.
Did they provide you with a reason of why you were let go? Also, when you say they approved your doctor appointments, was it verbally or in an email?
If you have any documentation to provide to the hearing officer for unemployment, definitely provide it asap. There's the saying, “if it isn’t documented, then it didn’t happen.”

I had been caught in a similar situation due to an abusive director of my dept for a company I once worked for. All the inappropriate emails he sent me, I printed out and saved.
I never signed any formal warnings, they didn't provide the necessary tools to do my job properly. According to the organizational chart, I was doing the job of a two people, alone, for 2 years.
Resolving 400 plus issues a month and they were trying to write me up for 2 unresolved issues. It was a nasty, ugly situation. My director wished anal cancer upon his wife, also had been cheating on his wife with the admin assistant of the dept. Just to give you an idea of the type of person he was.

When I went to unemployment, I brought literally a stack of papers to prove my side. The lady even commented she had never seen anything like that before. I said, "I endured a lot for 2 years."
My hearing was over the phone, the HR manager didn't answer the first time the hearing officer called. He called back again and all this was due to the company saying they were disputing my unemployment. Soon as the HR manager got on the phone, she stuttered 3 times that the company wasn't disputing my unemployment claim. So the hearing officer said to her, "So, you just wanted to delay (me) from receiving any benefits for 6 weeks." She didn't have anything to say and I won the case.

Oh you guys that's awful!!! I'm paying 600 dollars a month for COBRA. Many of the CD medications they can't use on me b/c it would make the MS worse(the last job I had I worked with Nurses that had Master's degrees or PhD's and they didn't understand that "Can't they give you anything to make you better?"). The job I have now is per diem, no benefits, if I go out sick,my husband and I have no income. This weekend their has been a new pain on my left side(usually on my right) so bad I can't breathe....getting the courage up to go to work today and pretend nothing is wrong I agree this SUCKS!!!!!

mtgman -- I know how you feel. I've had to take vacation days a few times to avoid those "fun offsite activities". The planners never seem to take into account that not all employees are able to participate, do they? I work for a company that preaches diversity & inclusion but that's all lip service when it comes to dealing with chronically ill employees.

Anyway, you might want to talk to your immediate manager and explain things. I know it's scary but do you think if you blow off the trip it will be held against you?

Hey you guys, thanks for your support. I just had my appeal hearing this morning for my unemployment. I don't think I have anything to worry about as they couldn't answer many questions with direct answers and I honestly don't think they were listening to any of it (I mean the employer) I don't know what they can appeal. I was gone 3 days and have dr excuses for all of them and was granted unemployment to begin with. She said 15 days for a decision...I don't know if telling your employer really makes a difference. I had a job years back and after a year I was approved for FMLA. After that happened, my employer did everything they could to get rid of me with the HR dept right behind them. I can't imagine having to pretend everything is ok at work with these problems. It is hard to do out in public. We went to a banquet event for bow hunters and it was an outdoor bbq with a porta potty...and guess what happens????? Yep...d issues...I felt like I could die...I am afraid to go out sometimes because of that...and it happened in the grocery store last week...so how can you live your life outside of your home and not have to worry about that??? I was diagnosed with Crohn's in 1999 and had a resection and have been doing pretty good up until this year so I am sort of experiencing these issues for the 2nd time and I don't remember it being like this back then so if I sound like I am experienceing these things for the 1st time I kind of am so bear with me cuz I have read your stories and haven't had it as bad as you guys have and for that I am soooo sorry!!! It feels good to have someone who gets this.