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Illness contracted at work

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L

lynnann

Guest
I am employed in Ohio.

I work in a pet store. In April of this year, we received a shipment of small animals who displayed signs of ringworm, which I "diagnosed" within a day after they arrived. (I am a former RN). I warned everyone to wear gloves and isolated the suspected animals and requested that they be seen by a vet...they were and the diagnosis was confirmed. Despite this, it took the corporation almost 6 weeks to authorize return of the animals to the vendor. At that time, I stated that we should not
accept animals from this vendor until the vendors breeding facility was certified by the public health department or USDA to be free of ringworm. Ringworm is transmittable between humans and animals and I felt that we were assuming undue risks by handling (and allowing customers to handle) these animals without assurance that they were free from disease.

While we housed these animals, I insisted that none be sold, none be handled by customers and refused to sell any. It took the company almost 6 weeks to have the animals removed from the premises.

They immediately replaced the animals with more from the same vendor. Several weeks ago, I observed suspicious symptoms in some mice we had received. I brought this to the managers attention. He ignored it. I isolated the animals, however nothing was done to prevent spread of the fungus. Despite repeated mention that we were again confronted with a contagious illness, nothing was done. I attempted to warn other employees, and to take precautions of my own.

We now have three employees with ringworm, one with a very
bad case of it. I received permission to have our on-site vet destroy the group of mice I had isolated, however we still have
approximately 50 small animals that have been exposed. I have
contracted the fungus myself, on my face. The other two employees will be out for a minimum of 2 weeks, I have continued to work because I can contain the infection (the other two have it on their hands...impossible to prevent spreading it to other people).

We are not covered by state workman's comp. We are self insured because our record allows us to do this.

I would like to avoid difficulty in lost wages, doctor's bills, etc.
I want to know what sort of documentation I need to maintain
(and how to advise my co-workers) so that we are not exposed to the cost of treating the illness and loss of income due to this problem.

I have already told them to keep copies of all doctor's bills, file an incident report with the employer (and keep a copy); have taken
pictures of the infected sites. I have asked the vet to do a culture prior to destroying the animals.

My concern is that when speaking with the corporate vet, his
response to the problem was "oh well, what are you going to do"...the verbal equivalent to a shrug...totally nonresponsive to the concerns of the employees who care for these animals on a daily basis.

We are barely above minimum wage employees...I am a former nurse who loves animals and I work there for the opportunity to take care of them and interact with them. One of the other employees who has the worst case of ringworm is training to be a vet tech and works there to augment her education. The third employee currently infected did not graduate high school, is extremely naive, handicapped (hearing loss of 70%).

I resent the attitude that we are expendable and that our health is of minor concern. I also resent the fact that we are willing to purchase animals from a facility that is so casual about the animals that they sell.

We risk permanent damage at this point, because we still must care for animals that have most probably been infected...and have been told that we must continue to receive deliverys from this vendor until further notice. Please note...the last time this happened, it took the company over 6 weeks to agree to let us send infected animals back and refuse deliveries. In the meantime, the animals must be cared for...fed, bedding changed, handled.

Because of the company veterinarians complete disregard for the seriousness of the problem today on the phone, I anticipate the same problem...weeks of having to maintain exposure to this while the company maintains good relations with a vendor who is totally negligent. Not to mention the fact that all of us love animals and must ultimately have them destroyed....in addition...we all have family and pets that we have probably already infected and must be treated.

I'm sorry for the length of this...my concerns are:

What documentation should we be maintaining to prevent loss of income and out of pocket expenses?

What recourse do we have if we have infected family/pets and they need to be treated?

What do we do if we experience permanent damage? (I'm a vain, middle-aged woman who really doesn't look forward to facial scarring...now does the other employee need tendon or muscle damge?)

I'm a nasty old biddy who will nag until I'm blue in the face, but
I really don't want to be fired! And let's face it, people on my level are emminently expendable!

Thank you so much for your kind attention, if possible, cc my email with any replies: [email protected]

Thank you - Lynn
 



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