work problems/discrimination

Hi everyone,

Just got to rant about this so sorry in advance. I suffer from anxiety but try to keep going, anxiety usually revolves around illness,terrible diseases sure you know what I mean.
Well any way been off work for three weeks with what started out as chest infection then water infection, and I had to be refered for blood tests because of chronic lethargy. Now all this could be anxiety linked but my GP thinks that it is a hormonal inbalance possibly underactive thyroid gland or peri menopausal argh I only turned forty yesterday!!!!!!!!!.
Any way when i spoke to my boss today her first question was is it serious? and could it be a long term thing, Bearng in mind I have worked there for over seven years i thought this was her being kind but NO she said if it was serious she thought i should hand in my resignation to be fair to them, Charming.

I dont know whether its because i have always been honest about my anxiety and she has always thought it was not a genuine illness,which I know technically its not but that doesnt help when you have panic attacks cause it seems genuine then.

Has any one else had problems lke this at work or have I just got lousy bosses.

any way sorry to ramble and probably not made much sense but needed to vent the anger somewhere.

Jayne

Hi Jaynemaria

I lost my job last year (I had been a computer prrogrammer for 12 years with the same company). I was having long periods of absence because of my agoraphobia and they knew they couldn't sack me on health grounds because of the disability discrimination act so they dismissed me on the grounds that I was incapable of fulfiling my role - despite numerous requests for them to allow me to work from home.

I could have taken it to a tribunal but I thought what the hell, they can afford a better lawyer than I can.

The best advice I can give you is to request that all communications from your employer be in writing or if this is not practical, have a third party present in any meetings to take minutes. That way, when your boss makes comments, you have a copy to keep.

Best of luck

Chris

Free links to anxiety/phobia related documents - http://anxietylinks.blogspot.com - there's no catch, this is my personal blog and all the downloads are free.

Hi Chris

ŽThanks for the advice,Its just so annoying isnt it, that despite all we do to try to help them it doesnt seem to be reciprocated, especially n your case as you could have easily worked from home in your job.

Any way I've calmed down now and think what will be will be.

You take care of your self and hope you have a few more outings in the near future.

Jayne

I am new to this forum and was diagnosed with OCD IN 1995. I have had job problems for most of my life. However, just this past week I was fired from a sales Job for "low sales" my supervisor said. The problem with me believing this explanation is that it wasn't even the end of month. The V.P. of sales had announced 3 months earlier that you need a minimum of 21 sales during a 3 month rolling period. I had 10 sales for my first month and then 5 the second month and had 4 when they fired. So they fired me when I really only needed two more by the end of the month.

My supervisor brought up two instances (which I believe was my OCD)when he was firing me (1) When I was trying to to print some labels for some fliers to mail out and (2) Another when I was personalizing a fax that he said consumed five minutes on. He definitely seemed angered by these instances. This manager started micro managing me at the end of his second month as being my manager. I knew at that point I was in trouble! I became being less confident on the phone(I did B2B sales calls) and my anxiety level "SKY ROCKETED"!. This manager's Micro managing techniques were driving everybody on my team crazy!.

I knew it was just a matter of time before he nailed me on something, because my OCD was bound to come out. In 1995 this is how my OCD was originally discovered(whe I had a micro manager),at that time I just went nuts doubting myself repeating things. I mean Micro managers just bring it out!

How about anybody else? Do you find your anxiety or OCD gets worse with Micro managers? Do you believe I have any grounds for discrimination lawsuit? They made no attempt to ask me about any problems I might have or send me to counseling(which I am already in ). Another Lady was out for almost a week and I guess attempted suicide from what i Hear abnd they set her up with counseling but did not fire her. She only had two sales on the board at the time I was fired but was the number three salesperson last year? Any feedback I would appreciate. Thanks, lvman:mad:

Hi Ivman

I think it's only natural for your anxiety to increase when you know you are being closely scrutinised. It's the equivalent of saying to someone "I know you have a broken ankle so I'm going to watch the way you walk."

Even now, employers don't seem to know how to handle mental health issues and I think as soon as they detect a hint of one, they start looking for another possible reason to get rid of you and rid themselves of the difficulty. This has to change.

Chris

My blog free anxiety, phobia and panic resources (http://anxietylinks.blogspot.com)
My website for anxiety and agoraphobia advice www.troubled-minds.co.uk (http://www.rabidbadger.007ihost.com/index.html)

Thanks for your reply and listening. I am just not sure what to do,where to work now with the prevalence of micro-managing in the work place???:confused: