Hi! I live in WV. My daughter and I both work at the same casino, as table games dealers. She is 21, and a single mother. She has recently been diagnosed as suffering from severe depression. She's been through some rough stuff over the past few years, so she's had plenty to deal with on her own. But since having her baby 2 years ago, she's been really suffering with some severe anxiety and horrible mood swings.
When she was on the day shift, at the casino, she was not doing as badly. Some months ago, they forced her (it's a union thing) to go to swing shift. Since then, the instability has been getting worse every month. Three weeks ago, she became dangerously suicidal. We were able to get to her, and get her to a hospital, where we finally got her on track for medical attention to this problem. She unfortunately does not have health insurance, as she only works part time; although she makes too much - even just part time - to qualify for any sort of help from various state or federal services.
here is the problem: we finally got her to see the psychiatrist. First thing the doc said was no more night shift work! She even wrote it on a prescription pad that my daughter MUST switch to days. The doc prescribed a medicine to help her get the depressino and anxiety and mood swings under control..BUT it has to be taken at night. The night shift is messing with my daughther's circadian rhythms, and making everything much worse.
They are basically refusing to honor the prescription as anything more than a suggestion which they feel they have the right to ignore. There is a shift rebid coming up, which my daugther can sign up for, and if her seniority is sufficient, they'll move her up for that. But they are in no hurry to affect this rebid. To make matters even more dangerous, my daughter is now too frightened to go get and start taking her meds, because she is afraid what will happen to her, with teh baby to take care of. She's afraid she'll be too knocked out to wake up with him. Or afraid that if she does not sleep there will be adverse effects from the meds and that she'll hurt herself or the baby. They are preventing her getting on with her treatment.
Can they really just force her out of the job or force her to choose between beginning to treat her mental/emotional disfunction? What effect does the union have on this muddled mess? It's a ridiculously ineffective union. The union president is very transparently "in the pocket", as they say, of the company.
The best she was able to get otu of these idiots is that, if she is not successful in the rebid, whenever it should finally occur, that they'd give her a chance to sit down and convince them of the true severity of her problem. As if they are somehow goign to know better or have more expertise than her doctor??
I am furious with these people and very ready to take whatever legal actions are necessary on my daughter's behalf. It's my "second" job; my "part time" job, if you will. I will take whatever consequences they want to throw at me. But she needs that job. She has a child to provide for, adn no other way to make the same money anywhere else.
What are her right? What recourse is open to her?
Thanks a million to anybody who can help us out here!
When she was on the day shift, at the casino, she was not doing as badly. Some months ago, they forced her (it's a union thing) to go to swing shift. Since then, the instability has been getting worse every month. Three weeks ago, she became dangerously suicidal. We were able to get to her, and get her to a hospital, where we finally got her on track for medical attention to this problem. She unfortunately does not have health insurance, as she only works part time; although she makes too much - even just part time - to qualify for any sort of help from various state or federal services.
here is the problem: we finally got her to see the psychiatrist. First thing the doc said was no more night shift work! She even wrote it on a prescription pad that my daughter MUST switch to days. The doc prescribed a medicine to help her get the depressino and anxiety and mood swings under control..BUT it has to be taken at night. The night shift is messing with my daughther's circadian rhythms, and making everything much worse.
They are basically refusing to honor the prescription as anything more than a suggestion which they feel they have the right to ignore. There is a shift rebid coming up, which my daugther can sign up for, and if her seniority is sufficient, they'll move her up for that. But they are in no hurry to affect this rebid. To make matters even more dangerous, my daughter is now too frightened to go get and start taking her meds, because she is afraid what will happen to her, with teh baby to take care of. She's afraid she'll be too knocked out to wake up with him. Or afraid that if she does not sleep there will be adverse effects from the meds and that she'll hurt herself or the baby. They are preventing her getting on with her treatment.
Can they really just force her out of the job or force her to choose between beginning to treat her mental/emotional disfunction? What effect does the union have on this muddled mess? It's a ridiculously ineffective union. The union president is very transparently "in the pocket", as they say, of the company.
The best she was able to get otu of these idiots is that, if she is not successful in the rebid, whenever it should finally occur, that they'd give her a chance to sit down and convince them of the true severity of her problem. As if they are somehow goign to know better or have more expertise than her doctor??
I am furious with these people and very ready to take whatever legal actions are necessary on my daughter's behalf. It's my "second" job; my "part time" job, if you will. I will take whatever consequences they want to throw at me. But she needs that job. She has a child to provide for, adn no other way to make the same money anywhere else.
What are her right? What recourse is open to her?
Thanks a million to anybody who can help us out here!
