Is this haraqssment

[samw6038]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I live in NY state, For over 8 years, I have had a medical restriction from my doctor that states that I can not work over 10 hours a day. I work 4, 10 hour days a week. For all this time, no one ever questioned this and it was excepted by the HR Manager. Now I have a new boss and she is questioning this. She is also stating that if I can not work over 10 hours a day, that I have to come in on the weekend and work an extra day. I have been singled out and the only person in my department that is being required to do this. I feel this is harrassment. Am I right or wrong?

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York

I live in NY state, For over 8 years, I have had a medical restriction from my doctor that states that I can not work over 10 hours a day. I work 4, 10 hour days a week. For all this time, no one ever questioned this and it was excepted by the HR Manager. Now I have a new boss and she is questioning this. She is also stating that if I can not work over 10 hours a day, that I have to come in on the weekend and work an extra day. I have been singled out and the only person in my department that is being required to do this. I feel this is harrassment. Am I right or wrong?

How long have you been employed at this company?

What is the nature of your medical condition that restricts you from working more than 10 hours a day?

Why can you not instead work five or six 8-hour days to satisfy the new boss?

 

[cbg]

EVEN IF your condition qualifies you for an accomodation under the ADA, which has not been established, it is not unreasonable and it is not harassment for it to be revisited after 8 years.

How many hours a day does your boss want you to work? How many hours a day do other employees work? How many shifts?

 

[samw6038]

I will answer both previous replys.

I have been employed here for 15 years.

The restriction is due to a bad shoulder. I originally injured it t work. It has since gotten worse because of arthritis. I am a fork lift operator. I work in a warehouse.

There are 2 shifts during the week. They are from Tues - Fri. 1st shift is 5:30am - 4pm. 2nd shift is 4:30pm - 3 am. This is the shift that I work. There is also a weekend shift that is Sat - Mon and it is from 5am - 5:30 pm.

Everyone on 1st and 2nd shifts work 4 - 10 hour days. It is only on occasion that wehave to work overtime and that is usually an hour. I have been on the same shift for 15 years.

My boss is telling my restriction says I can't work over 10 hours a day, but it doesn't say how many days I am restricted to. So if my co-workers (5 of them) have to work a few hours extra a week, she wants me to work an extra day on the weekend. So only I have to come in an extra day.

I look at it like this, If my doctor doesn't want me to work an extra hour, he certainly wouldn't want me to work an extra day.

As far as going back to the doctor to get re-evaluated, that is not an issue. I don't have a problem with that. As a matter of fact, i have been to the doctor more this year than I ever have. I had open heart surgery on Feb 9th, so my doctors know my health situations pretty well.

 

[cbg]

I think that it is not harassment for your employer to expect that you should be required to pick up extra hours if your co-workers are also required to. Your doctor has said a limit of 10 hours a day, but evidently he has not put a limit on the number of days or the number of hours per week. You are making that assumption. All your boss is doing is holding you to the same standard as everyone else. They are not violating your 10-hours-at-a-time limit, but since other employees can work longer shifts and you cannot, the only way for you to pick up your fair share of the required overtime is to have you come in on another day.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

It is not unreasonable for an employer to require you to do work for which you don't have restrictions. It is also not unreasonable for an employer to require periodic updating of your fitness restrictions. As your employer has been accommodating for this for years without periodic certification of restriction, you should be kissing your employers butt, not looking for a reason to sue them. In the real world, the disabled are discriminated against as a matter of routine. If your employer ever lays you off, wait until you discover how unemployable you are.

 

[samw6038]

I think that it is not harassment for your employer to expect that you should be required to pick up extra hours if your co-workers are also required to. Your doctor has said a limit of 10 hours a day, but evidently he has not put a limit on the number of days or the number of hours per week. You are making that assumption. All your boss is doing is holding you to the same standard as everyone else. They are not violating your 10-hours-at-a-time limit, but since other employees can work longer shifts and you cannot, the only way for you to pick up your fair share of the required overtime is to have you come in on another day.

The great thing about these forums is that no one know who you are, so they tend to give you honest answers. Also, you get to see how others will look at a situation. Sometimes, when you have had a "serious" talk with someone, you get into a mind set and it is hard to see anything different. I have, since my last post, gone to the doctors to have this updated. He was baffled that my employer couldn't realize on their own that if he didn't want me to work extra hours, he certainly didn't want me to work extra days. He also knows how the real world works, and realizes that he should have put a maximum of 40 hours. That being said, I asked him to remove my restrictions. Although I still have the problems, and working too many hours will cause me pain and discomfort, I can not afford to lose my job. My employer has fired over 75 people in the past 6 months. All with over 12 years of service. Now they are re-hiring new employees. So I am trying to get myself out of the line of fire. Thanks for your response. It was appreciated.

 

[samw6038]

It is not unreasonable for an employer to require you to do work for which you don't have restrictions. It is also not unreasonable for an employer to require periodic updating of your fitness restrictions. As your employer has been accommodating for this for years without periodic certification of restriction, you should be kissing your employers butt, not looking for a reason to sue them. In the real world, the disabled are discriminated against as a matter of routine. If your employer ever lays you off, wait until you discover how unemployable you are.

As I said in my previous post, i don't have an issue with updating my fitness restrictions. The problem I have is when they change policy on a whim. I have been told that it is not necessary, so the change came as a surprise. As far as "kissing their butt", I will not go as far as to say who I am employed by, but they have a nation wide reputation of being "hard to work for". I am NOT looking for a reason to sue anyone. I was looking for others perspective on my situation. If I do ever get layed off or fired from my current job, I am completely employable. If it wasn't for the vacation and rate of pay that I have accumulated over the past 15 years, i would leave them in a heart beat. I could rattle off many other issues, but the one that is important to mention is that there are certain employees that have not worked any overtime at all. They have never been asked or told they had to, and some of them work in the same department. With that piece of info, do you still feel i am being unreasonable to ask if I am being harassed?

 

[cbg]

I still maintain that you are not being harassed. If you were the ONLY one being required to work overtime, maybe. But since you indicate that your co-workers also are required to work overtime, the fact that other employees elsewhere in the department, in a different position (by implication) are not does not make it harassment.

Let me put it another way. Since it would appear from everything you have said that you are not being singled out for adverse treatment BECAUSE of your medical condition (and we have STILL not determined if the ADA applies here or not) but are simply being held to the same standard as your co-workers (which is legal EVEN IF the ADA applies) there is no harassment. Harassment/discrimination would be if you were being singled out to do something that no one else had to do and it could be directly traced to your condition - that but for your medical condition they would not be mandating overtime. THAT's illegal harassment.