This was originally posted on my Diet IBS Guide…
I had someone ask if they would be able to get unemployment insurance if they quit their job due to the symptoms of their Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is somewhat tricky & suffering from a chronic illness far from guarantees that you will receive unemployment benefits if you quit or are fired.When filing for unemployment, most government agencies that oversee giving out these funds are going to investigate why your last job ended & if you were at fault for the loss of that job. Resigning or being fired from a job is a red flag that will almost always cause your case to be reviewed. Usually resigning is the worst of the two options, as that means you voluntarily left the job rather than your employer making the choice by firing you from your position.
Let’s look at it from the perspective of someone reviewing your case. Is this person going to just take your word? They probably will not. When there is a medical condition preventing you from doing something, usually those in authority want someone else who is of authority to confirm it. In this case the person reviewing your case will want a doctor to confirm what you are saying. Given that Irritable Bowel Syndrome isn’t very well understood or treated effectively by many doctors, a lot them are not willing to help someone document the impacts a chronic illness has on their ability to perform their job. Many doctors have “paperwork-phobia” as far as documenting a person’s illness for use towards altering their work habits, unemployment or disability. You will more than likely get a response such as “eat better, take these prescriptions & you’ll be fine”. It’s worth it to keep trying though.
Here is how I would suggest you handle this situation. Document every trip you take to the doctor. Try to have your doctor confirm something about your condition, even a note that says “so and so has been seeing me for the last 3 months due to chronic diarrhea”. If they’re also willing to note that it would make your job difficult, all the better, but that’s not required. You basically want a paper trail showing you have an illness & are seeking treatment.
Next you need to notify your job of your health issues and request any changes that need to be made or any tasks you will be unable to perform. It would be best to send this via e-mail and print out a copy for yourself. Your employer may agree or not agree with your request, it doesn’t matter a whole lot either way. The main goal of the request is to notify them of your ailments and to create a paper trail of your efforts to retain your job.
If the main task of your job is so involved that you are not able to perform it at all, ask for a transfer to a different position(at a similar wage) that will allow you to continue to work, even if none are available at the time. Ultimately the goal here is to show that you exhausted all of your options to remain employed.
Keep notes on any instances where they ask you to do things that you have already detailed you can no longer do. You can either try your best at it or refuse to do it. This may create confrontation but ultimately you have to do what’s best for you and so long as you gave them advanced warning on your situation, they should not be ones to complain. Make sure you document the dates each request was made, who told you to do what task, their position & why you’re not able to perform that task.
Either immediately or after some time your employer may try to pressuring you to resign. Initially rebuff these requests and ask why it was suggested. If they respond back that your performance is dropping, apologize & explain you’re doing the best you can given the circumstances of your condition. Keep copies of all communications. Ultimately it will be more favorable for you to have them terminate you, than for you to ‘voluntarily’ quit even if you were highly pressured into quitting. The best course of action would be to hold out until you are terminated, but if the situation becomes hostile or too stressful, you may have to manually resign. Just make sure you document why the situation was too hostile or stressful for you to continue.
Following these steps will give you a healthy amount of documentation to build your case for obtaining unemployment. Keep in mind that you must show that you are actually still employable as well. So you also need to think of jobs that you are able to do otherwise you might be told to file for disability, which is no piece of cake & will not help you in your immediate situation.
I don’t think a person leaving due to health problem would qualify for unemployment. I think it is a disability issue instead. What am I missing here?
Not necessarily, as the goal is to prove you can still work to some capacity, just not doing the tasks your job wanted you to do. You must also show that you attempted to compromise with your employer about your situation. Many people can still work with IBS or other medical conditions, it just depends on the tasks and skills required. Someone who is a public speaker or a salesman who travels a lot will probably have issues if they develop IBS. Someone who does programming, office work or works in a call center might be able to still function at their job even with IBS. So you are not completely disabled, but just unable to continue doing the work you were doing before getting IBS.