I am sorry this is so long. I am pretty upset about
this..
So....Back ground... I am in the manufacturing industry. It is NOT assembly line work.
I have worked there for 20 years. I have Had excellent attendence despite of my conditions and I have been told I am a model Employee... But now is not good times for me and I my IBS. I am also type II Diabetic and the oral meds I am on don't help with the IBS.
I have been living with Type II Diabetes and IBS for several years now. It has never really been a issue at work because the prior managment never had a problem with it and I never had any bad flare-ups at work that caused any issues. A few mad dashes to the restroom but nothing real bad. They realized I had this and knew I wasn't going to spend a 1/2 hr in the restroom..
A few years back the Company was bought out buy a bigger company. Managment was overturned and changes have been implemented. Some for the good.... but I recently started hearing of other co-workers being told and I qoute .......
" You cannot use the restroom except for Lunch unless you find someone that can cover you and their job while you are gone. If you cannot find someone **you cannot leave**. Go to the restroom on your breaks"
10 hr days.... a 15 min break in the morn and 1/2 break in the afternoon...... Yeah right...
I thought that you could not put restrictions on restroom breaks other than time and then they could dock pay? It is not always feasable to stop another operator That really isn't nearby enough anyway and have him basicly watch two huge machines just from the safety aspect. I have been in this industry for 30 years.... It just isn't safe to have someone running these types of machines. This is big stuff here....Like House size machines...
I understand keeping production up and running.... but Really? Can they Really tell me I CANNOT use the restroom!? These machines can be started and stopped with no issues whatsoever...
I know hearing this is not anything new for most of you but when this does flare up you al know you dont really have a bunch of time to be doing anything but making a Friggen beeline to the restroom. And sometimes you may have to do it a few times a hour.. This is very rare for me but it does happen!
I want to get this nipped in the bud so to speak. I assume I need to talk to my Primary Care DR and have him write up something stating I have Type II Diabetes and the IBS and that could be put into my file but at the same time I don't want this note to get me in any of trouble with the new Managment.
Sorry for the Rant........I just don't know what to do. I never had to worry about this.. I have had stress related IBS issues in the past and it seems like now my bowls are again being hardwired to let loose with stress caused by thinking about this garbage..
How do you think I should go about handling this??
Post Edited (unhealthy) : 3/20/2011 8:17:19 PM (GMT-6)