I have a very specific scenario that I am trying to work through in my head and I am hoping for some advice from you good people.
So I was diagnosed in 2010 with RRMS and took part in the drug trial for Fingolimod which I have now been taking for 10 years. I consider myself lucky as I have never had any major relapses and I have continued to work full time driving up and down the UK and surveying building sites and being active.
However, as you all know, I am doing the above with permanent MS aches and pains and while I am make it look easy, I finish each day exhausted!!!
My condition has got me to the point now where I am thinking “this is all getting a bit much and potentially dangerous for me now” I have fallen a few times on sites and generally fighting against gravity at all times.
I want to approach my employer and request I change my role to a desk job. Instead of surveying I can do the schedules for them, instead of selling face to face I can work the phone prospecting and setting up meetings for others. I am of the opinion that I can still be as valuable to my company working desk based as I can be working externally.
I would also work from home as I live 80 miles from HQ and this is common in our business.
So how will my employer take this? They know I have MS and they also see my struggles every so often. I am scared that they might use this as an excuse to lower my wage or move me on from the company…I am going into unchartered territory and once you reveal your hand there is no going back.
Thoughts please and thanks for taking the time to read this.
Hi MJ
Like you I work(ed) in the construction sector. Mine was fitout & refurb rather than coming out of the ground. My epiphany came in 2020 when I realised the only way of getting up or down a floating staircase (no walls) was on all fours! With MS, you can trip up on level ground, so a building site is not a safe place to be.
I only got diagnosed in 2021 but had known something was up for years - had been misdiagnosed which didn’t help.
First and foremost, an employer can’t sack you for being ill and must make best endeavours to find some appropriate work for you. I presume you have a reasonable length of service and are PAYE? One also hopes that you are valued and your expertise could be redeployed as you’ve indicated. What size is the business? Big enough to have policies for diversity etc?
They may indeed chip your earnings but not in a malicious way. Customer-facing sales roles with targets are well paid. Back-room staff, less so and your changing role will align you more with those colleagues. You may have to swallow that one: account management or project management assume you’ll need to be out there on site some of the time and that’s the bit your condition will force you to relinquish. Face it, try doing some RAMS on yourself…
Likewise I work for a water company - used to be on the “tools” but now mostly behind a desk processing applications and contacting customers (can be stressful enough) work in office two days a week and at home the remaining three days which is helpful with having MS - you are covered by the disability act and employers have to make reasonable changes to help you stay in the job - look up Gov.uk - loads of info in there for you - good luck